Water Footprint Essay Assignment. The pages below show post-essays written by my environmental science class. Students ed their

Transcription

1 Water Footprint Essay Assignment The pages below show post-essays written by my environmental science class. Students ed their assignments to me (to save paper) so I pasted all of their essays into a single document for my portfolio.

2 Student 1 Water Footprint I was able to reduce my water footprint as an individual from 1, gallons to about 1, gallons. I think I had such an overall impact because I took shorter showers; this was the greatest impact because I used to take long showers, which uses a I think I also use water more sustainably because I have found better ways to conserve water and to reduce the amount my household uses. Instead of my dad watering the garden at night he waters it at night now so the water does not evaporate. Instead of my mom washing the trucks with the hose, which uses a lot of water, she recently bought a car cleaner that does not need any water. In addition, I time my showers by listening to only three songs instead of five, which reduces the shower time by almost eight minutes. Conserving water is important because it is a very valuable resource. Water is a vital resource to sanitize our things. We use it to wash dishes and to bathe ourselves. Water is used to drink, and you cannot live without water. Water is also a natural habitat for many organisms, and those organisms often provide us with food and an income.

3 Student 2 I found that my water footprint actually changed. After altering many of my water using habits and suggesting to my household to follow a plan I had made to achieve this goal, I recalculated my footprint. The footprint lowered from a group usage of 5,875 gallons to 5,563 for the household as a whole and individually my gallons used lowered by 63 gallons, down to 1,112 gallons. The largest impact on the change in my water footprint was likely using less water while showering, showering uses a large volume of water in a constant flow and if too much time is spent in the shower, like I used to do, then a lot is wasted very quickly. I also made my family aware of how much water is used when running the sink excessively, for instance when brushing your teeth or letting the water warm before washing your hands. Lastly, we stopped using so much water on inside plants and now water the plants based on how much they need rather than simply filling them without knowing how much they require and possibly wasting water. Conserving water is important because of how little of the earth s water is available to human s and how important it is as a resource in just about every aspect of our lives. Water is also easily wasted, as my behavior before trying to alter my footprint shows. Water is increasingly becoming less and less available to people and many reservoirs water are being degraded by human practices, with efforts to conserve water we might be able to save some of these sources of fresh water, preserving them and preventing permanent damage, rather than putting people in a position where they are forced to repair damage after its too late. In the end I was able to reduce my footprint quite significantly and was quite satisfied with the result, and my hopeful help to the earth s water supply.

4 Student 3 The number for my water footprint stayed about the same because before I took the test I thought my household did an alright job at not wasting water. I filled most the questions out the same but started out with 5,565 gallons for my household and (1,113 gallons for myself) then after I got 5,660 gallons for my household and 1,132 gallons for myself. I m not sure how my number went up. I think it stayed about the same and was surprised it didn t decrease because I answered that I lower the number of bottled water I used per week. Also, I changed the number of our recycling for plastics more. Which could have brought the number up because it takes water to break down and recycle them. I thought that we used water sustainably because we do have things like Energy Star appliances that they had mentioned on the survey but we could have also bought things like aerators for the sink to use less water but keep the water pressure. Also, we could look into shower heads that use less water that we would have to spend money on first but in the long run it would have the environment and also pay for itself. I think we used water sustainably because of the reason I had mentioned last week in my essays like, not watering our gardens as often and not watering our lawn at all. We also have Energy Star washing machines that use less water and have shorter drying times. Lastly, we take shorter showers. It is important to conserve water because even though we think water is cheap it could easily give us a false sense of security that we will always have fresh water because the government helps subsidize the cost. Also, a very small percentage of the water is actually fresh. The rest of the water on the earth is ocean water. There are a few methods to withdraw water but using too much from aquifers could cause sink holes. Alternatives to drawing water from aquifers would be things like desalinating ocean water but after all the water is filtered there is still going to be salt and end products that need to be disposed of.

5 Student 4 When I first calculated my water footprint my household used 5, gallons of water. As in individual, I used 1, gallons of water. By doing small things, over the week I have reduced my water footprint. Now, my household uses 5, galloons of water, and as an individual I use gallons of water. I think that taking shorter showers had the greatest impact on this water footprint. My family used to take around 15 minute showers, and now we cut that down to 10 minute showers. Also we are taking less baths. We used to take around 5 baths per month, but we cut that down to 1 bath per month. Personally, I think I am very sustainable when it comes to saving water. I always turn off the water whenever I brush my teeth. I turn the water on to get my toothbrush wet, and then I turn it off right away. Also whenever I shower, I always turn the water off when I am washing my hair or shaving my legs, and then I turn the water back on so I can rinse. Lastly, I use water sustainable because when I don t drink all the water from my water bottle, I water my plants with this water instead of wasting it by pouring it down the drain. Also, the water bottle that I use is reusable. There are many reasons why it is important to conserve water. First, when we conserve water we don t have to use as much energy from the factories to clean more water. We use up our freshwater faster than it can be replenished. Second, by saving water, you are saving yourself a lot of money, because you are saving energy. You can simply do this by taking shorter showers. Lastly, saving water is good for the environment. By saving water, we are saving water for the fish and animals.

6 Student 5 The water saving plan did decrease the water footprint of me and my household. My original water footprint was 1, gallons of water per day and for my house it was 11, gallons per day. After doing the water saving plan it decreased to 1, gallons per day for me and 11, gallons per day for the house. I think the habit that made the biggest impact was the baths. My siblings use to take baths every few days but now they have switched to showers. Showers use less water so not filling up the bathtub every few days saved a lot of water. I think that for the most part I am using water efficiently. I take showers instead of baths so I m not using a bunch of water to fill the tub up everyday. We also have and energy star washing machine so we use less water washing clothes, plus I wash my clothes with my moms clothes to fill up the load. Another way that I am using water well is that I don t excessively wash my car. Some people wash their car frequently but I don t wash it unless it s really gross. It is important to save water because of what we use it for and how we use it. Everybody needs water to live so we need to keep as much water around as we can so that there is enough to go around. It is also good to save water because incase we start going low, we will be able to adapt to living with less water better than if we went from our regular spending habits to conserving everything. Another reason it is important to conserve water so that we don t have to worry about it running out. If we know that what we are doing is sustainable then we won t have to worry about all of the water running. Reflective Essay Prompt I was personably able to reduce my water footprint by 37.3 gallons and as a household we reduced our water footprint by 155 gallons. I started with a water footprint of 1, gallons and reduced that to 1,092.5; my family s footprint began at 4,526.2 gallons and ended up using 4, I believe limiting our shower and sink time were major contributors to a decrease in our water footprint because that is really the only time

7 my family wastes much water. We each took significantly shorter showers we limited our showers to ten minutes reducing the amount of water we use daily. Turning off the sink while we brushed our teeth and washing our face also contributed but not greatly. I do believe I use water sustainably, but I could still do a better job. I take short showers, I use plastic water bottle very little if not at all, and I recycle. By taking quick showers, less water is being used on me and is conserved for other uses. Using the refuse tactic for using plastic water bottles, not as many will be produced saving water that would help make the bottles. My family recycles everything which can reduce the amount of water used to create new petroleum and paper products. Conserving water is a very important practice everyone should participate in. Only 0.024% of all the water in the world is freshwater (drinkable water). We can find this water in aquifers and surface water, but they will not always be there. If we remove the water from the aquifers to quickly, all the water supply from that underground cave may be depleted completely and forever. With out water we can t have green yards, be hydrated, or be clean. Also, some rivers and streams may dry out and that is even less water for us to use. Water is a renewable resource but it has to be taken care of; water may not always be as easy to come upon or retrieve. Water is something we take for granted and we need to conserve it before we over use it.

8 Student 6 At the beginning of our water unit chapter 20, we calculated our averages for individual and family daily water use, directly and indirectly. The national average for individual water use per day was 1, gallons per day; My average was 1,225.57, well above the national average. After incorporating my ideas for reducing my water footprint, I was able to reduce my individual daily use to 1,146.88, which went below the national average. The ideas I incorporated were to reduce overall shower time, reduce the amount of dishes I do, and the amount of laundry I wash. I usually (When I showered), would put my mp3 speakers into the wall, and put on my music, and after 2 or 3 songs I d get out, which totals about 10 minutes. The family used to do half loads of silverware in the dishwasher, we now do full loads. Now, we do only full loads of laundry in the washing machine, instead of only half full loads. I think that before this chapter/unit, I did not use water sustainably, because I had no idea how and/or just did not care. After hearing about developing countries that have people use one gallon of water per day, I felt bad and decided that I had to make a change. Now, since that chapter, I have reduced my water footprint and convinced most of my family to change the way that they use their water. I believe that I use water sustainably for a lot of reasons now. I have seen my friends that use almost a quarter of what I use, and that bothers me that I took advantage of what I had, when they had nothing. The facts about developing countries that are lucky to even get 1 gallon per day frightened me, knowing that I used basically 1,110 times that much, it is shocking. Also, before I just didn t care about conserving water because I thought it was unlimited. I thought that we d never run out, but since not only chapter 20 but also chapter 21, I have learned that we are really not taking care of something that we need to take care of. It is unbelievably important to conserve water. The earth s surface is roughly 70% water, and the fact that we overuse and under price that small amount that we can use means that we will run out. Eventually, if we continue on the path of self-destruction we are on, water that we are able to use will deplete to nothing at all. If we run out of this resource, then the human race, some plants, and some animals will go extinct. The things that we rely on water for (drinking water, cleanliness, transportation, material creation) will not be around anymore. That means that humans will eventually start dying, which is not we are meant to do, in my opinion. We need to conserve water not only for ourselves now, but for the world that we are leading into (our future generations), and the plants and animals that rely on us to survive.

9 Student 7 Water-Saving Plan My water footprint was reduced by almost 100 gallons. My initial footprint was gallons per day, but after a few lifestyle changes and adjustments, I was able to reduce that amount to gallons. I believe that reducing our water bottle use had the greatest impact on our water footprint. While water bottles may only contain a small amount of water, we used them quite frequently. By reusing, recycling, and reducing our water bottle use, we were able to save water. Because of these new lifestyle changes, I believe I am using water somewhat sustainably. I now use less, and recycle more water bottles per week, which decreases our water use. I also spend less time taking showers in the morning, and installed water saving fixtures on our faucets. The fixtures help save water by aerating the water that It is important to save water for several reasons. Using water sustainably saves money, and while the earth is 71% water, only a fraction of a percent of that is drinkable freshwater. Most of this freshwater is stored in ice caps, and unavailable for our use, so we must rely on underground aquifers. If these aquifers are depleted too quickly, without given time to recharge and replenish, sinkholes and subsidence can occur in certain areas.

10 Student 8 Water Thing Essay Last week when we did this assignment, I used 1,411 gallons of water and 9,035 bottles of water a day, while my whole family used 5,647 gallons of water a day. Just those little adjustments that I have used, (turning the water off while I brush my teeth, turning it off while I scrub my hands, and using the same water to bathe all of my dogs), I have saved 265 gallons in a week. Now I only use 1,146 gallons a day. I think the thing that helped me save the most water was, turning the water off while I brush my teeth and wash my hands. It may seem to be a little adjustment, but I feel that impacted my water footprint a lot. I think that because last week when we did this project, my footprint was a lot more water use, and the only adjustments I have really made is turning the water off while I brush my teeth or wash my hands. Before this year, I didn t use water sustainably at all. I would leave the water on while I was washing my hands and brushing my teeth, take really long showers and just let the water hit me while I sat down in the shower, and just not really pay attention to how much water I used and I really didn t care. With all of the oceans, rivers, streams, ponds, and all the other bodies of water, I thought we had a lot of water to use and we wouldn t run out of water ever, at least in my life time. But now I think I use water pretty sustainably, I only turn water off to use it. I don t just let it run anymore if I don t need it. I turn it off as I brush my teeth, as I wash my hands, and I take quick showers now and just relax in bed instead of in the shower. I feel as if I have made a big change with how much water I use and how sustainable I am as a person. I used to think the world had a lot of water to waste and not run out. I was wrong. Of all of the bodies of water, only 0.024% of it is safe to use and drink. Considering that Earth is about 70% water, we don t have a lot of water to use. So we need people to use water sustainably and conserve it. We as people don t have a lot of water to use, imagine animals and trees. Almost everything in the world, needs water or is produced using water. If we run out of water to use, that s pretty much the end of the world unless technology increases and finds something to take place of water. Just think, if everything in the world uses water, and there isn t enough water that is usable, than a lot of species will die out.

11 Student 9 After applying my water saving plan, I have been able to successfully reduce my water footprint. I initially used 1, gallons per day, and my new calculation reports that I now use 1, gallons per day. One of the changes that made a big impact was starting to recycle some plastic and some paper, and by reducing shower time. To produce both paper and plastic, water has to be used. If more people just recycle plastic and paper, less will have to be produced, and that means the need for water in factories will decrease saving it for other uses. Same for reducing shower times, the same job gets done, but with less water. This water will then be reserved for other uses. Yes, I do think that I use water sustainably. Each night I get a cup of water to set next to my bed for when I wake up and my mouth is dry. If I do not drink all the water in one night, I will leave the same cup of water there for the next night. I do not dump it out, which would just send it to waste. My friend Ashley and I have sleepovers every night. In the mornings, we brush our teeth at the same time so that we only need to turn on the faucet once to start, once to clean our toothbrushes, and once to rinse out the sink. This cuts our water used to brush our teeth in half. Another reason I believe I use water sustainably is that I now turn off the water when I scrub my body in the shower. I used to just push the shower head down so it wouldn t be over me, but I realized whether it is on or off it doesn t effect me, so I might as well turn it off to save that water from just running down the drain with no purpose. It is important to conserve water because it will save electricity, put less pressure on sewage treatment facilities, and lessen the effects of pollution. Water requires electricity to be heated. This electricity probably comes from burning fossil fuels which are nonrenewable, and also produces CO2. By using less water, electricity, nonrenewable fossil fuels, and CO2 emissions will be saved. There will also be less pressure on sewage treatment facilities. Since on.02% of water in the world is safe for human consumption, the rest must go through sewage treatment facilities to be cleaned and safe for human use. This also takes electricity, time, and use of chemicals to clean water. Conserving water is also important because water helps to lessen the effects of pollution. Water reduces pollution by removing and diluting waste and pollutants in the water that could otherwise be harmful to the environment and species.

12 Student 10 When I first did the water calculator I was expecting to use below the average amount of water and I was, but not by a lot. After implementing my water saving plan I followed through and had an amazing improvement on how much water my family wastes. I was able to reduce my water footprint by about 250 gallons in one week. My previous amount was 1, gallons a day, and after using my plan I have reduced the amount of water I use in a week to 1, gallons. The Greatest impact was the way our family had to change to actually make things run the way I had planned it. Taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet when we don t need to use it, all of these measures we had to take have made my family less water wasteful. I was able to use water more sustainably than the previous week I hadn t used my plan. I believe that I use water more sustainably because over the past week I have noticed a great change in my lifestyle such as taking shorter showers which gives me more time to do other productive things, providing my family with a set plan to follow to make our family less water wasteful, and the fact that I am making a difference in the world weather it s a big impact or the smallest, I feel that I can make the difference even bigger. Saving water is extremely important. It is important because people around the world die and struggle to survive from lack of water, and if it wasn t important these problems many people face wouldn t even be as they are now. Water is important to those who need it, but unimportant to those who consume and waste it everyday. It is also important because everybody relies on it as a resource and they depend on it for their lives. It is important because without water life on earth wouldn t even exist. Water is known as the Life Element because life cannot survive without waters special liquid properties. Many people who live in developed countries can care less about how much water they use/waste, and it is important for these people to know what kind of impact they are creating that continues to make our world the declining resourceful planet it needs to be.

13 Student 11 The last time we used the water footprint calculator I realized how much water my family uses in a week. Since then, I have made some minor changes into my everyday schedule to save water. By doing so I was able to decrease my water footprint by 46.8 gallons. I started out using 1, gallons per day, now I use 1, gallons every day. I did not reach my goal because I said that I was going to be able to save at least 100 gallons. I now realize that 100 gallons would have been a hard goal. I think that cutting down the time on my showers has had the biggest impact on my water footprint because I used to take 20 minute showers and now I take 10 minute ones. I usually would waste time in the shower instead of doing the necessities and I would make up any excuse just to stay in it longer. I think that if I got my whole family on board and made major changes instead of minor changes that my water footprint and my families water footprint would decrease drastically. I believe that I use water sustainably but only to a certain extent. I could do a lot more to save water such as using my water bottles over and over again or get a stainless steal bottle. I could also use the idea of a spray bottle next to my counter to get my toothbrush wet instead of turning on the faucet. One thing I do that saves water is I recycle and give my clothes away, this saves water by making factories not have to make as much. It s important to conserve water because although the U.S. has a large supply of it we don t know how to use it sustainably which puts us in danger of running out. When we conserve water we use less energy from the factories to make more water. Conserving water also saves us a lot of money, many people are in debt and changing something in their lifestyle like conserving water could help them save a little money. Another reason for conserving water is that we don t want to waste the large supply we have now because the more we use water the more our large supply will slowly decrease. We don t want to take the risk of wasting water we might need in the future.

14 Student 12 My water footprint was reduced from my initial water footprint. My initial water footprint for my household was 2, gallons per day and as an individual it was 1, gallons per day. The footprint subtracted to 2, gallons per day for my household and 1, gallons per day for me! My worst habit was recycling, which was definitely the reason why my initial footprint it higher. My household did not start recycling until last week. We always wanted to, but just did not know where to start and did not have containers to use for recycling. My mother went out and bought two regular containers from Target and we have recently separated our plastics, cardboards, and paper from our regular trash. This is a big impact on my water footprint because we do use plastic water bottles from time to time and we are wasting plastic bottles by just throwing them in the trash. Plastic also requires water to make so im wasting water when I trash plastic instead of recycling it. I believe my household uses water sustainably besides the recycling fiasco. My mom has always taught me to turn off the water while I brush my teeth because its wasting water and she has to pay for it. Another sustainable way we save water is taking short showers! We have two bathrooms in my house but one is downstairs and it is so much easier to shower in the one upstairs less time in the cold while running out of your bathroom! So in the mornings my mom and I take short showers because of the amount of time it takes to get ready. The last way we save water is while washing our cars. We fill a bucket full of water and only use the hose to fill the bucket or to wash the car down. The leftover water in the bucket gets poured on to the brown patches of grass around our house. Conserving water is really important for our economy. One reason why we should conserve water is that it is a necessary for human life! Sure there is a lot of water in the world, but there is not as much freshwater. The second way for saving water is we save aquatic habitats. Habitats are being destroyed in waste water or water that is drying up. The third reason to conserving water is a luxury for some developing countries. A lot have countries have water that carries a lot of water pollutants and that is the cause for death of kids at ages 5 and younger.

15 Student 13 When we started our water unit with chapter 20, we had to use a water calculator to calculate our individual and household water usage levels. After the first calculation, my household was responsible for 3, gallons of water per day. My individual amount was at 1,128.22; below the average amount of 1,190. After taking the test again, a little over a week later, both my household and my individual water usage went down. The second calculation showed I dropped my individual level to 1,097 gallons of water and the households level to 3,291 gallons. I think the biggest determinants of this drop occurring would be a reduction in the amount of bottled water that is bought and the shortening of shower time by 2 minutes. By buying less bottled water, I am indirectly affecting the companies of these products by not buying as much of their water as I did. It forces them to produce less. A shorter shower, without any water saving attachments, lets gallons upon gallons of extra water flow, so if the time is reduced of how long I m letting the water come out, I end up saving water. I do feel I use water sustainably in my everyday life, in and out of the house. One reason I believe this, is I have always shut the water off whenever I am brushing my teeth. This saves potentially hundreds of gallons of water a year that can be used for other tasks. I also have been taking shorter, more efficient showers. Since my shower doesn t have any water saving attachments on it, any water I save can have immediate effects. Whenever we run low on bottled water, I try to take an older bottle and fill it with tap water and just turn to that whenever I need a drink. Having alternatives to bottled water by filling up older bottles also saves water. It is important to conserve water because less that 1% of all water on earth is free of salt and in a state that we can safely drink. Each generation has the responsibility of keeping this water clean and free of pollutants. We have already made plants that can filter salt out of water and make it become available to drink or use for any other purpose. It would be easier and cheaper if we all conserved any water we could and use the water that we couldn t conserve to use for other purposes, like gray water.

16 Student 14 I was able to reduce my water consumption for the week. My initial water footprint was 1,229.4 gallons, but I reduced it to 1, gallons. Although it was only a reduction of approximately 39 gallons, I am no longer above the average consumption per day. My family and I started turning our water off while brushing our teeth, as well as recycling some plastics and papers now. Since we turn off the water while brushing our teeth now, we do not directly waste as much. By recycling more often, we are indirectly saving water because the paper and plastic products require water in production. Recycling uses less water because more water will not be necessary to produce more products. I do not think I use water sustainably. I m only at the average point, not below it. The average water footprint is already a high number, so my footprint can definitely be reduced. Although I decreased my footprint, I still do not recycle as much as I should. I know I use a lot of paper and plastics, but I only recycle sometimes. My family and I also spend a lot of time at the sink, whether it is brushing our teeth or washing our hands throughout the day. We could cut the time spent at the sink, and make sure we never leave it running wastefully. Also, I still use a lot of water bottles. I could easily fill up a reusable bottle with tap water, but I grab a bottle instead. It is not only expensive to do, but it uses up a lot of plastic too. If those bottles are not recycled, it is more water wasted. It is important to conserve water because of the short supply of usable freshwater. Only.024% of our water is fresh and available for our use. Desalination is not a sustainable procedure for sea water because of the waste it produces. Although it is circulated through the water cycle, a lot of our water is being polluted. We are unable to use the water if it is polluted. Water is vital for life, but we constantly waste water. It is underpriced so it is taken for granted in developing countries. Water is a precious source that needs to be conserved in order to live. Conserving water will not only reduce water pollution, but also saves energy.

17 Student 15 Over the week, I was able to reduce my personal water footprint from 1, gallons per day to 1, gallons per day. I believe that by reducing my showers from 20 minutes to 10 minutes helped reduce my water consumption by a lot. Also, I usually turn on my shower then while I wait for the water to warm up I go around and do stuff so I am basically letting the water run for a good 5 minutes. Now, I just stand there and within 30 seconds its already warm and I can get in. So overall I m using about 11 minutes every night for a shower instead of minutes saving many gallons of water. I still do not believe that I do not use water sustainable, even though I try to be more conservative about my water use, I still do not go to all the measures to sustainably use water. I still drink bottles of water because when I go out to the field I don t always have the time during practice to run to the cooler full of no so clean water and fill up my reusable bottle, so just picking up my bottle and drinking it is a lot quicker to do. My family also still does a lot of laundry every week considering we have 5 people to do laundry for and we all separate our loads into color groups so that ends up being a lot of laundry per week, but we do have a front load energy star washer so it measures the perfect amount of water needed for each load so its not going to be over filled with water. My parents have to travel far to get to work sometimes to Delaware, New Jersey, or DC at least 4 times a week so that is a lot of driving. Not to mention all the driving my sister does commuting to college and Edgewater to train for competitive horseback riding. All around we run a lot of errands, go to a lot of places for sports or work and it adds up to a lot of gas. It is important to conserve water for a few reasons. One reason is that

18 there is a limited amount of freshwater on the earth and people do not know that. We cannot drink or really do anything productive with salt water and since there s only approximately.024% freshwater available to us on the earth. Water is vital to us and humans waste so much of it for themselves while people in developing countries only survive on 1 gallon of water a day because that s all that is available to them. Our water is polluted easily from human activities and is undervalued. If we continue to waste water like this its going to come to a point where developed countries are going to have to survive on 1 gallon a day as well.