The Sperreng Spirit: January 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Big Return, Sperreng Style

Mrs. Julie Roy is the sponsor for the Environmental Club at Sperreng. She and Mr. Mark Giesing have spear-headed an effort for members of the Club to be part of something bigger, THE BIG RETURN.

Environmental club students are selling Vapur Water bottles to help build wells in Africa for cleaner, better drinking water. Vapur water bottles are BPA free and are a much better alternative to the plastic water bottle.

Check out the stats below about clean water in our country....quite mind-boggling.

1. We have plenty of clean water here, why should we worry about conserving water?

Ø 97% of the water on earth is in the oceans, but only 3% of the water on earth is freshwater.

Ø Of the 3% freshwater, about 2.4% is permanently frozen in glaciers and at the polar ice caps leaving

Ø About 1/2 of 1 % of the water on earth is groundwater

Ø Only about 1/100 of 1% of the water on earth is in the rivers and lakes

Ø It takes 39,090 gallons of water to make a new car, including the tires

Ø A person can live about a month without food, but can live only about 1 week without water

2. What are some ways that your family could conserve the clean water we have?

Ø Take shorter showers

Ø Turn off water while brushing teeth

Ø Collect rain-water to water plants, garden, wash cars etc.

Ø Install water conserving shower heads and toilet bowls

Ø Only run dishwasher and washing machine when you have a full load

Ø Get leaky faucets repaired

3. What are some problems that continued use of single-use water bottles may cause?

Ø Continues polluting of our lakes and rivers by water bottle manufacturing

Ø Landfills are overflowing with plastic that takes 450 years to decompose

Ø Our bodies continue to take in BPA’s

Ø We continue to spend a lot of money on single-use bottled water that we could save for other expenses.

4. How do communities without safe water sources impact you personally? (In other words, why should you care?)

Ø 3-5 million people die every year due to contaminated water related illnesses.

Ø The United States and many other countries in the world contribute money and medical care to communities where a majority of illness and hospitalization is due to water-borne illness caused by consumption of contaminated water. If these communities have safe water, our resources can be redirected to other needs.

Help out and buy a Vapur Water Bottle!!!!