Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Lets Be Clear

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by Katie Kish · 11/23/06

Canada has been dealing with some rough water issues lately, and the David Suzuki Foundation is taking note of it. Since late last week residence of Vancouver have been facing mudslides over taking their resevoirs where the city gets their water. The extremely high level of turbidity has caused an advisory for Vancouver residents to boil all of their tap water.

Water contamination is something Canada has faced in the past with over 200 different contaminations. But why? One would think that after like 80 contaminations we would be looking to the causation of this. David Boyd answers this question.

Canada’s water quality guidelines are actually voluntary. There are currently no legally enforced rules to protect our water. Mr. Boyd says the Federal government should step in and establish mandatory standards that meet or exceed those of other countries.

No really?

North Americans in so many areas have been given a horribly skewed sense of security. At a young age in geography class we’re told that 70% of the earth’s surface is covered in water, that’s a lot of water. But then we have to factor into that how much is actually drinkable. Most of it, 68.9%, is trapped up in glaciers and another 30.8% is in groundwater. That leaves us with a tiny 0.3% of our fresh water resources in lakes and rivers.

It’s only going to get worse as global warming gets worse. The Great Lakes will decline greatly and most of the water that melts from glaciers is going to go into the oceans, which isn’t drinkable. Our alternative – bottled water – isn’t so awesome either.

Health Canada’s website on bottled water reports that there’s no evidence to support this. In fact, Professor Rolf Halden of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, had this to say about water in U.S. cities. “The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water.”

Not to mention it’s really expensive. Rock on water shortages in Canada. But what can we do? The solution is the same for everything – educate people. We all know that “educate people” over simplifies to the point that it hurts. Luckily, David Suzuki is a bit more optimistic than I am and offers a few ways that we can all help out a little bit, and keep track of what water supplies.

Water conservation starts at home. Here are some things you can start doing at home right now to protect our water for the future.

* Low-flow shower heads can cut your water use in the shower by more than 30%. You can also reduce your water use by installing a, low-flow toilet that uses less water.
* Household cleaners are flushed away then go through treatment facilities, but trace elements become part of the water cycle. A lot of household cleaning can be accomplished with good old white vinegar and baking soda. (Really!) For ideas visit H2Ouse.
* Shower with a friend! It saves an average of 200 liters of water and it’s lots of fun. You’ll have a helping hand scrub those parts of the back you can’t reach on your own.

Learn more:

* This blog has links to find out what’s happening with the world’s water.
* Environment Canada’s Conserve water page.
* If you want to see how much water you’re using, and aren’t afraid of giving your e-mail address to the government, check out Environment Canada’s water use calculator.

Turns out, I use a lot of water…

Your daily average water usage: 478L

Your province’s daily average: 425L
Canadian national daily average: 335L

baking, bottled water, cities, cleaning, conservation, dress, drinking water, giving, Global Warming, health, Home, Lush, News, oceans, oil, reduce, resources, soda, water

Tired of Drinking Water?

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by Starre Vartan · 11/22/06

Especially in the winter, I don’t really enjoy drinking good old H2O, except after a workout. I don’t want to ingest anything too sweet, or milky either, so I drink ridiculous amounts of herbal tea (sadly, I cannot handle caffeine). Now I’ve found a few new additions to my repertoire of on-the-go healthy drinks that are way better than Snapple or softdrinks (though a good root beer once in a while is a fave).

Bossa Nova and CellNique (both empty!)

Bossa Nova makes pure Acai (pronounced ah-sci-ee) juice, sweetened with organic agave. The bottle has about 120 calories, but I only drink half at a time as the juice is quite flavorful (I like mine with lots of ice or mixed with selzer). The acai fruit, which is produced by palm trees in Central and South America, has tons of antioxidants- more than pomegranate, and five times more than blueberries. (We love antioxidants because they attack free radicals in our bodies that cause aging, heart disease, and some cancers). The Acai fruits are wild-harvested (no monoculture farming here!) and Bossa Nova works with the Rainforest Alliance, so every bottle of Acai juice saves one rainforest tree through their Save a Tree program. Yum.

Cell-nique, the Super Green Drink, isn’t kidding (and what a trippy website!). The drink is made of 70% organic ingredients, is only 84 calories for a tall 14 oz. bottle, and contains an amazing amount of greens and herbs- like organic spirulina, chorella, hemp protein, barley grass juice, oat sprouts, spinach, olive leaf, Pau d’Arco bark, grape seed extract, and green tea extract (that’s about 1/3 of what’s in it!). Shockingly, it’s delicious, lightly sweet, refreshing and definitely gives you an energy boost about 10-15 minutes after drinking. Super and Green for sure.

Cancer, drinking water, Energy, farm, farming, fruit, health, hemp, Milk, Organic, produce, rainforest, rape, Tea, trees, water

Fishtale

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by Jennifer Veilleux · 09/08/06

This week in DC, concern over a scientific study that found “intersex fish” in the Potomac resonated only briefly around my office and circle of friends. I have tried impress my concern upon them that we are, in fact, drinking Potomac River water here in DC (and in some of the surrounding suburbs like Arlington). The question of course is: if this is happening to the fish, what could it mean for us? These intersex fish are male bass, both large and small mouthed, who are developing eggs in their reproductive tissues. They were first discovered in 2003, but the news is that their numbers have increased.

This hermaphroditic phenomenon is thought to happen because of endocrine disruptors, pollutants or chemicals that promote estrogen production, present in the water. The EPA, though conducting ongoing studies on endocrine disruptors, has yet to issue any guidelines to water treatment plants about allowable levels of estrogen in drinking or evacuated waters. This discovery is not limited to the DC area. Elevated levels of endocrine disruptors and estrogen have been detected in U.S. waterways throughout the country by the U.S. Geological Survey (you can read the report through this link). This estrogen appearance can be linked with birth control pills, pharmecuetical company waste water, sewage, or a combination of several pollutants causing unpredictable effects upon our environment and the beings residing in it.

“Experts” have made public announcements that there is no evidence to indicate our drinking water is unsafe.  They attribute this to the fact that fish are at a higher risk for these mutations due to their body size and because they are constantly in the water. I am drinking bottled water.

bottled water, drinking water, epa, estrogen, fish, health, News, Plants, waste, water

Bottle Upgrade

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by Ann Benoit · 08/22/06

Ok, so I admit that before we made the switch, my boyfriend and I collectively owned about 8 plastic Nalgenes — both of us unrationally phobic there would be some situation we’d be caught in without water. But that was before we realized that plastic containers might not be the best solution for holding our drinking water.

After reports that number 3, 6, and 7 plastics can leach into your water (especially over time and after washing), we decided to ditch the plastic and upgrade to metal water bottles and haven’t looked back since. My personal favorite is the stainless steel Klean Kanteen — I have both the sport bottle and the larger container. A bunch of my friends own the very stylish and design-friendly, Sigg bottles which are also non-leaching. Nalgene has recently released a new line of bottles which are made of a safer plastic, but i’m already sold on the alternatives.

design, drinking water, plastic, plastics, sigg, sport, water, Water Bottle