In the past month or so the ALS ice bucket challenge has become an exceedingly popular social media trend and has raised over 80 million dollars when I last checked on it. Interestingly enough, the social media backlash for the "waste" of water poured over the applicants heads during the challenge has become super popular as well. I understand that wasting water is a large issue facing not only our country, but also the world and that we should not take it lightly. I would love for people to be as ardent about actual water conservation as they seem to be when bashing the ice bucket challenge.
The majority of ice bucket videos I have seen have been using a bucket with maybe 5-10 gallons of water in it. Being generous I'll say each challenge used 20 gallons of water. Now, granted that sounds like a lot of water, especially when you multiply that by the million odd videos posted to Youtube and Facebook, but let's put that number in perspective.
Within water advocacy there is a term called virtual water. Virtual water is the total amount of water used in the production of certain goods. For example, a pair of jeans is made from cotton, which requires water to grow. It also requires dye to applied and if they are fancy jeans, they have been washed to wear them down to be comfortable. All of these things require water. How much water you ask? An average pair of jeans costs 8,000 liters (2,113 gallons) of water. A cotton t-shirt costs 2,500 liters (300 gallons). How many pairs of jeans do you have in your closet at the moment, how about how many t-shirts?
Even the food we eat has a high water cost that you might not be aware of. Pork has a virtual water cost of 5,990 liters per kilogram (717.7 gallons per pound). Beef has a virtual water cost of 15,400 liters per kilogram (1,845 gallons per pound). How often do you eat beef or pork? In contrast a cucumber has a virtual water cost of 240 liters per kilogram (28.7 gallons per pound).
I do not mean to make anyone feel guilty about their water consumption, everyone needs clothes and everyone needs to eat. I am simply trying to make a point about the scale of the issue that water conservation really is. Each year we use trillions of liters of water to feed and clothe ourselves, water that is not being replaced in the aquifers from whence it came. But we as Americans can make a difference. If everyone gets together and actually work towards a solution, we can easily achieve it.
If you want to conserve water do not leave the faucet on when you brush your teeth. Take shorter showers, or use a low flow shower head. Don't water your yard as often and don't dump harmful chemicals into the sewers. Forget about complaining on Facebook about the ice bucket challenge and next time you're at the store don't buy that new shirt or pair of jeans or, instead of buying a pound of ground beef, make a vegetarian meal. You can easily save thousands of liters of water with one simple decision, and think about that decision multiplied by the thousands of people who have spoken out for water conservation we'll be on the right path to sustainability.
If you want to learn more about virtual water this is a very good website.
Also you can donate to ALS victims at www.alsa.org.
If you feel so inclined, you can also donate money to help secure access to clean drinking water for people in need here.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Does the punishment fit the crime?
By now everyone has heard about the events that transpired in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer after allegedly striking him during a struggle. The incident began after Brown robbed a convenience store when he was seen walking down the middle of a road interfering with traffic. The police officer confronted Brown about the traffic situation and from there the details are disputed. However, we do know Brown died from multiple gun shot wounds to his head and torso.
I think enough people have weighed in on the racial tensions in Ferguson and the statistics behind police and civilian interactions, so what I want to talk about today is one of the overarching issues that I see effecting our whole country: that everyone thinks they have the right to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened.
An unarmed man walking down the middle of the street disrupting traffic does not deserve to be shot. Even if Brown did strike the police officer, assault of a police officer is not an offense that warrants the immediate execution of the perpetrator. I do believe that police officers have the right to defend themselves, but I think the problem is that in our current society, we immediately jump to very deadly, very permanent solutions to crimes that would otherwise amount to a medium length jail sentence.
For instance if I were to go right now and find a police officer and punch them in the face I would face a minimum of six months in jail. Even if I combined that with a robbery charge for the cigars I just stole from a convenience store, the maximum sentence for simple robbery is 10 years in prison and a 20,000 dollar fine. So the absolute worst case scenario is that I would spend 10.5 years in prison and pay 20,000 dollars in fines. That is not even factoring in that I would be a first time offender (like Brown) and only stole a package of low quality cigars (like Brown). This is nowhere near the level required to convict someone of the death penalty in any state in the U.S.
People are dying because we in America are obsessed with our own safety to the degree that we are willing to kill others to keep ourselves secure. If the officer in the Brown incident had used any of the other means usually available to officers this whole situation would have turned out very differently. The officer could have used mace or a tazer, both of which are more effective at close range than a hand gun, if Brown actually was close enough to strike the officer. If the officer had used a non-lethal method Ferguson would not be torn apart by rioting and looting right now. Brown would be alive and facing assault and robbery charges rather than lying dead in the street.
We need to ask ourselves why we as a society jump to the most final of solutions in these confrontations. From shooting a young, drunk, pregnant woman through a locked porch door with a shotgun because you feel threatened to luring a robber into a garage and blasting out the door indiscriminately with a shotgun to shooting an 18 year old for walking in the middle of the street and stealing some cigars. There are better ways to deal with these situations that do not involve death. There are non-lethal solutions to protect yourself. If you are concerned about your safety take self-defense classes, buy mace, buy a tazer, call the police. Think about your actions when they may be ending the life of another human being. This world of ours is already filled up with suffering and pain. More needless violence and bloodshed is disgusting.
I think enough people have weighed in on the racial tensions in Ferguson and the statistics behind police and civilian interactions, so what I want to talk about today is one of the overarching issues that I see effecting our whole country: that everyone thinks they have the right to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened.
An unarmed man walking down the middle of the street disrupting traffic does not deserve to be shot. Even if Brown did strike the police officer, assault of a police officer is not an offense that warrants the immediate execution of the perpetrator. I do believe that police officers have the right to defend themselves, but I think the problem is that in our current society, we immediately jump to very deadly, very permanent solutions to crimes that would otherwise amount to a medium length jail sentence.
For instance if I were to go right now and find a police officer and punch them in the face I would face a minimum of six months in jail. Even if I combined that with a robbery charge for the cigars I just stole from a convenience store, the maximum sentence for simple robbery is 10 years in prison and a 20,000 dollar fine. So the absolute worst case scenario is that I would spend 10.5 years in prison and pay 20,000 dollars in fines. That is not even factoring in that I would be a first time offender (like Brown) and only stole a package of low quality cigars (like Brown). This is nowhere near the level required to convict someone of the death penalty in any state in the U.S.
People are dying because we in America are obsessed with our own safety to the degree that we are willing to kill others to keep ourselves secure. If the officer in the Brown incident had used any of the other means usually available to officers this whole situation would have turned out very differently. The officer could have used mace or a tazer, both of which are more effective at close range than a hand gun, if Brown actually was close enough to strike the officer. If the officer had used a non-lethal method Ferguson would not be torn apart by rioting and looting right now. Brown would be alive and facing assault and robbery charges rather than lying dead in the street.
We need to ask ourselves why we as a society jump to the most final of solutions in these confrontations. From shooting a young, drunk, pregnant woman through a locked porch door with a shotgun because you feel threatened to luring a robber into a garage and blasting out the door indiscriminately with a shotgun to shooting an 18 year old for walking in the middle of the street and stealing some cigars. There are better ways to deal with these situations that do not involve death. There are non-lethal solutions to protect yourself. If you are concerned about your safety take self-defense classes, buy mace, buy a tazer, call the police. Think about your actions when they may be ending the life of another human being. This world of ours is already filled up with suffering and pain. More needless violence and bloodshed is disgusting.
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