World Water Day 2011

If you watch an old movie and take notice of the little things that happen in each scene... you will notice one huge difference between pre-1980 movies and movies of today. Water bottles + plastic bottles of other drinks "on the go." It seems that people can't go too long without taking a drink of something, so they carry plastic bottles around everywhere they go.

Since today is World Water Day i am focusing on water.

How often do you grab a bottle of water? How often do you see people walking around with a bottle of water {park, gym, mall, sporting events, etc.}? If you answer never, you are either blind to the world around you, or you live in a place that doesn't have bottled water available {an Earth friendly utopia of sorts}. Everywhere i look, someone has a bottle of water in hand. It seems that the human body has "evolved" into something that can't go even an hour without hydration. We cling to our bottles of water like a baby to their favorite blanket. We rarely use a re-usable bottle or glass/plastic cup when we are on the go {how many starbucks cups do you use and toss each week?}. Most people that i know drink bottled water even in their own home, instead of using a cup. This baffles me a lot about the human psyche. What is it about a bottle? Why can't people grab a cup/glass and sit down at their desk?

I do not remember having a drink on the go when i was a really little kid. Our soda came in glass bottles, so we didn't take them out of the kitchen. Instead, we poured ourself a cup. If we wanted water, we turned on the sink, filled up our cup, and got our drink on. If we were out and about and thirsty, we drank out of a water fountain, or on rare occasion we would buy a drink that came in a paper cup {still not the best option}. There were many times when we would just wait until we got home or wherever we were going to grab a drink. We might be really thirsty by the time we got somewhere, but we learned to deal with it. When playing sports we had a plastic cup with our name written on it and the coaches brought giant water containers and we would get a drink in our cup when needed. If you look around at a sporting event today, every kid on the field has their own bottle of water to drink. I can't remember the last time i saw the giant water container in youth sports. Instead you see the individual bottles; even the parents in the stands have their own bottle of water.

I admit that the ease of water bottles keeps people more hydrated. There are probably less incidents of heat stroke and dehydration due to sports or over heating while being outside. But for the most part, the bottles of water aren't truly needed. Just as they were not needed back when we were kids. If you are not being over-worked, grab a drink before you go to keep you pre-hydrated and then refuel your hydration once you get back home. If you MUST take water on the go with you, invest in a reusable bottle {they come in BPA Free plastic, metal, and/or a mixture of the two}. They aren't that expensive. If you do the math... they are actually cheaper than the continued buying of bottled water.

If you are at home... use a cup! Drink from the sink or a filtration system if you aren't comfortable drinking unfiltered water. Nothing has changed since you were a kid. The use of a cup has not changed at all. They still hold liquids. It isn't as if cups have changed to no longer have bottoms or sides; trust me, they work the same as they have for thousands of years. You can still walk around the house with them and not spill it everywhere. If you are worried about spilling, invest in a "coffee" mug with a lid to take from room to room in your house. Clean water is available in all of our homes in America. We are blessed, super lucky, amazingly well off, and we should be humbled by the thought that we are lucky enough to have CLEAN drinking water at our fingertips.

* Fact: 8.8 BILLION gallons of bottled water were consumed in the USA in 2007.

* Fact only 12% of the plastic bottles from that water used were recycled.

* 63.4 BILLION plastic bottles are dumped into landfills and oceans each year, and growing to more and more being dumped each year.

Two quick things i want to add:

1. Charity: Water Water Day 2011. I've talked about this amazing charity before. They bring CLEAN water and education to other countries around the world. If you are able to donate to a charity, i urge you to check out Chairty: Water's website and give what you can, when you can.

2. The trash in our world due to water bottle use.

          a. MSNBC Article on Plastic Trash in America.

          b. Mother Nature Network: 5 Reason not to drink bottled water.

          c. Youtube Video about plastic in our Oceans.

          d. Youtube Video {commercial} for water filtration {brita}

          e. Youtube Video {commercial} "if you could see the real impact" of bottles {brita}

          f. Youtube Video {ethical Water} "Confessions of a plastic water bottle"

Now, go and get yourself a BIG cup/glass of water from your sink. Go on. You'll feel much better about yourself and the way you are treating the planet.

Japan.

watch this video. 

Take the 10 minutes. 

see how much was impacted by the Earthquake and following Tsunami. 

Then, if you can, donate $10 to help aid the Japanese in their recovery.

Japan had a great tragedy happen the other day. One that makes you sit up and take notice of the world around you. It reminds us that we are all on this planet together. We are all at the mercy of this place we call Planet Earth. Be it a hurricane, Typhoon, Earthquake, Volcano, Tsunami, or any number of destructive forces... we are but tiny, meaningless creatures to Mother Earth. We were not the first ones to claim this planet as our own {i speak of the Dinosaurs}, and we certainly won't be the last. Cherish the moments you have and love the ones you are with.

Please, if you have the funds, donate to the American Red Cross today. If you do not have funds, take up a collection at work or with friends. Give time... even the simple act of posting the information about donating on your twitter, facebook, or blog can do amazing things to get the word out there to HELP in the need of others.

Text REDCROSS to 90999 or contact your local Red Cross agency to see how you can help.

Haiti and our borders beyond...

*Please note, all images below are linked to their original source so that you can read the stories that go along with them.
** Please note, this is my opinion of how i think it should be, feel free to disagree, but you aren't going to change my mind.

Yesterday i felt angry and very sad towards a couple people that i know. I understand their words were not meant to spark negative feedback, and both of these women are amazing moms and women! But it got me thinking, if two people felt this way "it's great that people are donating to help in Haiti, but what about all the people here in America that need aid?" then perhaps there are more Americans thinking the exact same thing. This makes me very sad.

i am of the mindset that we are not just a nation of The United States of America - we are a world nation. ONE world ONE love! It is not that i do not support American charities and all the wonderful things that they do, but here in America we have a very large scaled government with ways to help every single MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD (even pets!). Certainly there are times when people fall through the cracks in this country... but opportunity is there for any person who seeks the help and guidance of our well established government. Could it be more, of course. But this isn't really about our government at the moment... what i am shocked about is that people can coldly turn a blind eye to the rest of the world because they think it doesn't matter. it DOES MATTER!

Charity: water
My first time coming across this charity - it brought tears to my eyes. If you want water, what do you do? You quite simply, turn on the tap water in your kitchen, bathroom, if need be an outside faucet, or if you are out an about there are clean water drinking fountains on just about every street corner or inside of every building. But what if you had to walk miles every single day to get drinking water. Now what if that water was like what you see in the image above? It baffles the mind to think that an element found on over 71% of this planet - and millions of people do not have access to clean drinking water. I'm not talking about during the aftermath of a disaster like in Haiti or even Katrina, i am talking about every single day of their life and their children's life. Being born in America you are already blessed by not only FREEDOM but having basic needs of life at your fingertips each and every day of your life.


Doctors without Borders
The image above is a refugee camp in Thailand. Imagine if your country kicked you out because of your religious belief or because you didn't belong for some random reason - or because of a natural disaster. You would be forced at gunpoint to stay in a refugee camp. No other country wants you, and your own country will not take you back. You are stuck. Now imagine you are sick or your child is sick. The camps are less than sanitary! You can not leave to go to a doctor, so what do you do? With help from the UN, UNICEF, and Doctors without Borders these people will get medical help. Not to mention food and clean drinking water. Do you honestly think a refugee camp would ever be set up inside of the USA? Hell no. We would find a way to get every single man, woman, and child into a safe living condition. This kind of atrocity happens around the world all the time. There are millions of people in refugee camps as i type this in Haiti and other parts of the world.

***
the following images are from on the ground in Haiti. If you can look at these images and still think people in the US need our help & money more than those in greater need elsewhere on this planet, then there is nothing more i can do for you. It is sad to think anyone can see the issues that plague our planet and still think "help me/us first".

my God, just imagine if this was your grandmother!
Pray for those not only in our own country, but all over the world each and every day!



ONE world, ONE love!

do more for those who can't do for themselves

Every once in awhile you come across something that makes you sit up and take notice of the world.  It makes you see what you have and what others do not have.  There are so many thing that we, as Americans, take for granted on a daily basis.  It is something so simple and easy to get... we can go to almost any place in this country and it will be there.  I am talking about Clean Drinking Water.

The reason that this story came out and pretty much called my name was this, my birthday was just the other week and i told all who wanted to give me something to NOT give me anything because i did not want to move anything more to California.  In stead i asked people to give money to a cause that they were close to.  I have no idea if anyone really took the 10 minutes it would actually take to sit down at a computer and donate to a cause.  But if they did, i thank them for doing that for me and for those in need!

Another reason i love this cause, the clip about having too much stuff for birthday's.  Every year we, as parents, purchase our kids so much stuff!  I can not stress this enough, i'm getting tired of saying it because i don't think anyone is listening. It is something that sometimes shocks me, to walk through the toy section at the store. There is no longer one Barbie sitting on a shelf that only has one outfit.... oh no, you have Barbie, her entourage, her car, her house, her sister, her pets, her office, her entire wardrobe, her 2nd house, her hot tub, her pool, her second-third-fourth-fifth job, her entire life now has 2 entire isles at our Super Target!  Not to mention they have knock off Barbie, and then there is the newer section of Bratz Dolls.  This is just one toy item, don't even get me started on the 6 months old and under toy isle.  How much can you buy for a new born, really?

Do we need it? Do our children really need so much distraction in their lives?  The things that all people need to live is, water.  Clean drinking water.  It is not something that we have to think about.  What would you do if you have to give your child a cup of mud water?  How far would your walk to obtain a glass of clean water for your child?  Luckily you will not have to worry about this issue any time soon.  The next time you turn on your faucet, and watch the clean water come out for giving to your child... think about what you have been blessed with in your life.

The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

Earth Hour

We learned about Earth Hour last year, in it's second year of being something to take part in.  We celebrated last year and again this year, it's so much fun!  However, I did not plan ahead and realized that i had packed up or donated away almost all of my candles!  I was able to find some old canning jars, and some tea lights... but it was not enough light.  I recently got some Soy candles from a friend... but i did not want to burn them just yet.  I eventually broke down and ended up burning one of them in the kitchen.  

Next year i plan to do this event again... only we'll be out in California!  I wonder if they have outside events on the beach or overlooking the Golden Gate bridge that we can take part in next year?  That will be fun searching for a new adventure in celebrating Earth Hour next year :o)