Today marks the second annual Blog Action Day. It’s an event to unite bloggers across the world to post about the same issue on the same day.

This year’s issue is water.

Living in the United States, it’s hard to imagine that 1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water.

It’s hard to imagine that people die just because of a lack of access to clean drinking water.

In honor of Blog Action Day 2010, I’m going to try to be extremely vigilant about not wasting water. How will you save water today?

Welcome to August – the month of more water usage than any other month of the year in the United States. It’s time we identify methods to keep ourplants happy and green and still reduce our appetites for the ubiquitous clearliquid.

On average, an American household uses about 260 gallons per day, but this amount climbs to around 1,000 gallons per day during peak water use season with some households using as much as 3,000 gallons a day, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But we can all do more to reduce our water consumption. According to EPA’s WaterSense Program, homeowners can save as much as $110 a year just by following a few tips and making a few changes.

August tends to mean hot, dry weather leading to more yard watering just to keep our plants alive and our neighbors from wondering why we stopped caring for our yards. To save money on your water bills set sprinklers to water your plants only early in the morning or at dusk. Watering in the middle of the day when it is hottest means more of the water will evaporate before being absorbed by vegetation. Purchase a rain gauge and water only one inch of supplemental water in the absence of rain. Your rain gauge will tell you how much water will be needed if your area received rain. Also before watering plants, press your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle and see if it is moist. If the soil is dry and your finger comes out clean, the plant needs water.

If your grass needs water, set up sprinklers in the early morning hours or in the evening and attach timers to them. Nothing wastes more water than forgetting about your sprinkler for hours. Timers are available at most hardware stores and can be as simple as an egg timer mechanism or as technologically advanced as a digital interface. Prices vary so check out reviews online so you can make the most informed decision before purchasing.

Install rain barrels around your home at the ends of gutter downspouts. These barrels will hold rain water for you until your plats are ready to use it. I installed one this summer on our new home and we have barely used our hose at all for our vegetable garden and household plants. Purchase or make a rain barrel which has a spout as close to the bottom as possible. Make sure the barrel has a screen on the top to reduce the number of bugs which can enter the water. To keep any larvae from germinating, add mosquito dunks to the water – they are non-toxic and will not hurt your plants. If the water in the barrel begins to smell at all, do not worry. Add a capful or two of bleach to the water and let it sit for a day before you use it again. Rain barrels offer free water and help reduce runoff in your neighborhood. Some municipalities offer financial help with purchasing these inexpensive barrels and some have tax rebates. Make sure to check with your municipality to see what they offer.

Outdoors isn’t the only place you can save a little water, though. Keep a pitcher of water in your refrigerator so that you always have cold water on hand and you do not have to run the tap water until it is cold. Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes, and scrape dishes instead of rinsing when loading the dishwasher. Lastly, put your favorite handyperson to work fixing leaks around the home, which can waste about 200 gallons per week. Fixing leaks can add up to about $50 in utility bill savings annually.

Renovating or planning to upgrade your kitchen or bath? Look for EPA’s WaterSense label on toilets, faucets and faucet accessories which have helped Americans save more than 9.3 billion gallons of water and realize more than $55 million in savings on water and sewer bills in just 2008. That is enough water to supply 100,000 average households for a year.

You only have a few more days to participate in Tap Project’s World Water Week. What? This is the first you are hearing about it? The Tap Project is based on the simple concept that restaurants would ask patrons to donate a $1 for the water they would ordinarily offer complimentary.  All funds raised support UNICEF’s efforts to bring clean and accessible water to millions of children around the world.

According to www.tapwater.com, for every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days. So this is a pretty neat opportunity to make a difference.

Potable water, while a significant health issue around the world, it is also a serious environmental issue as well as a women’s issue.  As Maude Barlow, author of Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water, aptly stated: “the human race has taken water for granted and massively misjudged the capacity of the earth’s water systems to recover from our carelessness.”

Essential to our lives, the demand for fresh water is rising faster than the amount of water available. While affluent countries like the US have funded pricey irrigation systems to grow crops and furnish water to residential areas in the desert, there are still impoverished nations struggling to get water to their people. Currently there are an incredible 2 billion people worldwide struggling to obtain fresh, drinkable water daily.

Less than 1% of the world’s water is fresh (and therefore drinkable) and it is up to us to protect the delicate hydrologic cycle Mother Nature has employed to continually cleanse and replenish the supply. Unfortunately, because we are polluting, diverting, and depleting the supply of freshwater, the amount available continues to decrease. While once we barely touched groundwater, the water underground which feeds our rivers, today we bore huge holes into the earth and tap the water, depleting it. While just 30-50 years ago we were barely using ground water, not more than a quarter of our drinking water comes from there because other surface water sources have been polluted, depleted, or diverted.

It’s up to us to protect our water supply, so do your part by learning more about how you can reduce your impact on your local streams and waterways. And, for this week, check out the restaurants in your local area who are participating in World Water Week and support a child who is desperately in need of clean, fresh water.

Have you ever read the label on the bag of salt that you keep in your garage for those cold, snowy days? More than likely, there is a warning as to the harm that traditional road salt can cause to pets delicate paws and tummies. Now, have you ever wondered, “if this product can be harmful to my pets, to what else can it be harmful?” If not, you should.

Road salt, usually sodium chloride, is used to lower the temperature at which water freezes to the surface and thus making it safer for us to drive when the roads are wet and the temperature is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It has been the accepted (though unregulated) method of deferring the creation and encouraging the melting of ice since the 1960s in the United States. Over the last ten years, however the application of sodium chloride has come under scrutiny by scientists, environmentalist and even legislators.

It is estimated that between eight and ten million tons of salt is used in the United States each year. Sodium chloride damages delicate watersheds when it runs off into water bodies, changing their chemistry and affecting aquatic life. Worse yet, it has contaminated drinking well water in New England as well as other sources of water used for consumption. Similarly, chloride changes the delicate chemical balance found in soils, disrupting the uptake of nutrients and inhibiting long term growth. Effects in soil can be seen as far away as 50 meters from the roadway and have even more serious implications for seedlings, bulbs, and early root development.

Even animals are affected by the widespread use of salt on roads in North America. Salt deprived animals have been known to seek out melted salty snow, ingesting too much, resulting in elevated salt toxicity levels. In Canada, there have been elevated numbers of vehicle collisions with elk and moose because the animals drinking the salty melt become too comfortable around the roads and lose their fear of cars. Seed-eating birds may not be able to distinguish between rock salt and small grains which they would ordinarily consume, causing them to become sick and often die of elevated salt levels.

Amidst these concerns over wildlife kills, water degradation and contaminated drinking wells from runoff, and habitat destruction due to the application of salt numerous cities have altered their preferred methods of road deicing.

So what are the environmentally alternatives to sodium chloride? Scraping and sanding was used before salt became the more persuasive deicer. While active scraping and sanding does not melt the ice or inhibit its creation, it has actually found to be safer for drivers in many ways because it forces them to be more attentive and cautious while driving.

For your general home use, start by first scraping and shoveling before you apply any kind of deicer. If you have to use a deicer, use it sparingly and check the weather. Many deicers of wholly ineffective when the temperature dips below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Realize that all deicers have some adverse effect. Sand and cinders are essentially non-toxic, but when combined in some soils with clay, they become close to cement. Altering your soil may inhibit the growth of your plants in the spring because they will be unable to reach needed nutrients. While in their usual uses they help plants grow, urea and fertilizer when used as deicers can burn plants because of their strength in large amounts.

When buying your deicer, read the back of the bag and all of the ingredients – even if it says environmentally friendly. Calcium chloride is considered less damaging than sodium chloride. Increasing the soil’s organic matter and hand watering the plants after the thaw can help leach out all of the salt trapped around the roots of your favorite outdoor plants.

As a side note, if you use a snow blower, consider moving from a gas or diesel blower to a battery or electric model. Not only are they quieter (your neighbors will thank you) but they are cut pollution significantly and use less energy.

Tomorrow we will talk about eco-friendly ways to deice your car and address whether you really need to warm it up or not.

Comment and let us know what you use to deice your property.

Image by Flickr user Paul Romans used under a Creative Commons License.

Welcome to 2009! We hope you had a great holiday and can’t wait to help you fulfill your New Year’s resolution to integrate more acts of green into your lives. 

Below is a pledge for you to sign which we are certain will help you up your green ante over the course of the year. While the list may be daunting at first, consider incorporating just a few new eco-friendly tasks each month. Over the course of the year, you will have made great strides towards reducing your carbon footprint and deepening your shade of green.

At home, I pledge to…

• turn off lights and appliances when not in use
• unplug chargers  and appliances that are not in use
• use computer sleep mode and turn off monitors when not in use
• open the dishwasher and air dry dishes instead of using the hot air dry cycle, run only full loads
• dry laundry on a clothesline
• wash clothes on cold cycle, wash only full loads
• turn down my hot water heater to 120F
• shorten showers by a few minutes to conserve hot water
• lower my thermostat by at least 1F during the winter season
• install a digital, programmable thermostat. Set it and forget it
• adjust thermostat when I leave the house (10F down in winter, 10F up in summer) (if you install the programmable thermostat and set it, you can check this one off too!)
• keep up with basic furnace maintenance- have it professionally tuned and cleaned, replace air filters regularly
• cook more efficiently- cover pots, use a pressure cooker when appropriate, keep burners clean, cook several dishes at a time in the oven, use microwave to heat food, for small meals – use a toaster convection oven instead of heating up your larger oven
• keep drapes or blinds closed at night in winter and during the day in the summer to reduce heating and cooling needs
• clean refrigerator coil every 4-6 months
• replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
• when bulbs blow out, dispose of them properly or recycle if possible
• install light dimmers
• install faucet aerators in sinks to reduce hot water use
• install low-flow shower heads to conserve hot water
• install low-flow toilets to reduce water use
• insulate 4 ft of hot water pipes closest to hot water heater
• insulate all hot water pipes
• caulk and weatherstrip all my doors and windows
• have a professional seal my heating ducts to reduce loss of heated air
• replace old inefficient dishwasher (over 10 years old) with an Energy Star model
• replace old inefficient refrigerator (over 10 years old) with an Energy Star model
• replace old inefficient clothes washing machine (over 10 years old) with an Energy Star model
• improve my home’s insulation
• replace old furnace with efficient Energy Star model
• install a solar hot water heater
• eat one less beef meal per week
• eat organic food as much as your budget allows
• eat as local as possible; maybe eating “100 miler meals” – food that hasn’t traveled more than 100 miles
• compost food and yard wastes
• recycle paper, bottles, cans and other reusable materials
• buy recycled products whenever possible
• buy products that use as little packaging as possible
• take clothing and small appliances to charity thrift stores or other donation centers
• join a volunteer organization, or an environmental organization
• participate in government so I have a voice in sustainability issues and decisions
• register to vote so I can create help change in environmental policy decisions
• tell a friend

For my transportation, I pledge to:

• take public transportation to work or school instead of driving at least 1 day a week
• carpool to work or school at least 1 day a week
• replace at least 5 miles of driving with biking or walking per week
• inflate car tires properly, use recommended motor oil and keep car well tuned
• buy a fuel efficient vehicle (30 mpg)

For my workplace, I pledge to:

• make double sided copies
• only print when I really need the hard copy
• use the blank side of old documents for scrap paper
• buy recycled copy/printer paper.
• turn off my computer at night

The Green Ribbon Pledge will compute your energy savings for energy saving specific points. Thanks to the Stonybrook Green Pledge.

What are suggestions you can add to creating a greener 2009?  Please tell us below in the comments!

By now, you have probably heard about ENERGY STAR, an energy efficiency labeling program operated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy – but have you heard about a new program water efficiency program?

WaterSense is a labeling program operated by the U.S. EPA and it’s your opportunity to better the water efficiency in your home and office. Every year, Americans spend upwards of $500 on water and sewer bills, but if we all make the effort to save a little water, we can reduce those bills by as much as $170 in each household and save more than 3 trillion gallons of water across the country!

You might not have thought about it before, but saving water actually reduces your carbon footprint too. It takes a lot of energy to make sure you water is well treated and drinkable before it enters your home. Saving a little water, saves a little energy at the treatment plant. 

Saving water for saving water’s sake is important too. Fresh water is a resource in short demand around the world. Every year, our groundwater and other naturally drinkable water resources are diminished either through contamination or runoff.

Saving water also helps reduce the amount of water being sent to our nation’s decrepit waste water treatment facilities. In most cities around the country, the treatment facilities for water are woefully unequipped to handle not only the quantity of water coming to them but many of the pollutants now found in that water. Many of our cities’ systems were built early in the last century without the anticipation of the significant population increases we have now witnessed and before many of the chemicals we now see in our products even existed. When a waste water treatment facility cannot handle the amount of water being sent to it, water overflows open and untreated water is allowed into our waterways. Reducing your water usage, even a little, helps reduce these events and protects our nation’s waterways.

Take the time to learn about a few simple things you can do to reduce your water use. From changing the ways you water your yard to fixing that leaking faucet, there are plenty of ways you can personally pitch in to improve your water efficiency. If you are renovating your home or even changing a faucet or buying a new toilet, take the time to find one that is WaterSense certified. Just look for the logo above.

Already purchased a WaterSense certified product or improving your water efficiency? Let us know about it in the comments.

Who has time to overhaul the whole house and go from “regular life” to green? Doesn’t Al Gore realize you have a life? Of course! So do it little by little! Take a moment, once a month even, and walk around your house to look for 3 things you could change to have your home be more environmentally friendly. Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Here are some things to look for:

Light bulbs- buy a pack of Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs). Have them on hand to switch out for the regular bulbs when they burn out. Did you know that if every home in the U.S. switched just one bulb, we would save enough energy to light 2.5 millions homes for one year??? That’s outrageous!

Where do you buy them? Target, Home Depot, and many local stores have them. Buy them online at Green Lights. They give 10% of their profits to green causes too! Double points for that!

Unplug things! Cell phone chargers are a major culprit! Don’t just unplug the phone from the charger, take that charger out of the socket! Chargers that are left plugged in are called vampire appliances. Did you know that 95% of the energy used by the charger is wasted? The charger doesn’t even know if there is a cell phone connected on the other end.

Use your drapes! Ok, this may sound hokey at first, but think it out…if the sun is shining through your glass windows, don’t you think it might heat up the room a little? And you have your AC on? Use your drapes- to keep the place cool away from the sun, or welcome the sun and use less heat!

Mind the gaps! Either check yourself, or call in a professional to make sure that there are no “leaks” in the house. Is everything insulated properly?

Turn off the water! No, we didn’t mean entirely! We aren’t that hardcore! But look and see when you can reduce water use! Does everyone in your house turn off the water when brushing their teeth? Did you know that the average person uses 2 gallons of water for brushing if the water is left running?

Use the SHORT CYCLE! Do you know that your dishes and clothes will get just as clean if you use the “quick wash” cycle? Unless you have feasted 3 days ago and let everything sit, you will be fine…try it! Test it out!

Is everything being recycled that could be? Would it help to put an extra can or box near the kids’ desk for recycleable trash?