Drink Wine, Donate Water

Online wine vendor CellarThief donates 100 days’ worth of clean water for every bottle of wine it sells.

From the site “Almost 1 billion people on the planet don’t have clean drinking water – that’s 1 in 8 people. Not having clean drinking water leads to terrible illness and death – in fact 42,000 people die every week from a lack of clean, safe water with 90% of those deaths being children 5 years old or younger. If you help us sell this wine out, the Bounty is awarded! We’ll tag on another 50 days of clean water for every bottle of wine sold! That totals 5 months of clean water per bottle of wine – that can make a difference!”

A great idea, if you’re buying wine anyway, and it’s the same price as somewhere that donates water, then why not buy from them? Shipping for 3 or more bottles is $5.

[Via: Springwise]

Water by Steven Solomon Book Review

Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization by Steven Solomon is a weighty tome at 500 pages plus photographs and notes but covers a heck of a lot.

Not having time to read it all I dipped in and out of it’s chapters and found it fascinating. With freshwater use growing twice as fast as population growth, water is rapidly going to replace oil as the world’s most valuable resource (if it hasn’t already) and there is going to be bigger battles between those who have access to it and those who do not.

Water famine could outstrip famine and religion as the cause of wars and the scenario played out in the book is pretty bleak indeed. Researched in great detail, Solomon shows enormous understanding of the issues and gives us the history of water’s role in shaping of the world as we know it today. Interspersed with maps and a set of photos, the understanding of the past is critical to understanding the present situation. Egyptian, Roman, Islamic and Chinese sea and water power are explained; the building of the great canals; “The Sanitary Awakening” that lead to a massive clean up of the way water was treated; and much more.

With humans requiring two to three quarts (~2 liters) of fresh water a day to stay alive, population projections for 2050 to be in excess of 9 billion, and only 2.5% of water on earth being freshwater, the challenges are enormous.

If you’re interested in the issues surrounding water in the 21st century and how the issues came to be, I don’t think there is another single book that encompasses all the issues in such great depth and detail.

You can buy it from Amazon for around $18.50. Now I just need to finish it!

Kate Humble Backs New Water Saving Campaign

Alasdair from Big Green Smile has written a post about Springwatch favourite Kate Humble bfronting, or indeed backing, a new water saving campaign:

“BBC television wildlife presenter Kate Humble has joined the campaign to educate Britons about the importance of water saving measures.

Figures published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show that the average Briton uses 150 litres of water every day, compared to the 127 litres used by the average German.

It is estimated the water treatment process and the use of hot water creates 35 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year in the UK.

Ms Humble is now trying to get the message across that straightforward water saving measures can save money and help the battle against climate change.

“Simple changes can really add up to a better environment – meaning more water for the wildlife and countryside around us as well as saving on carbon emissions,” she said.

Among the water saving measures recommended by Defra are turning the tap off while brushing your teeth and using a watering can instead of a hosepipe when watering the garden.

Waterwise recently launched a campaign to persuade people to spend less time in the shower, pointing out that an electric shower uses around six litres of water a minute.

Heart Of Dryness Book Review

Heart of Dryness is by James G Workman and is subtitled “How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought”

I’ll admit I haven’t finished the book yet but I’m really enjoying it. An award winning journalist and one of Bill Clinton’s speech writers, Workman really knows how to write and bring home the relevance of the Kalahari Bushmen to our own backyard. The Colorado River dam has always interested me and hearing the river will be dry in 13 years is pretty shocking. The way water is used as a weapon by governments, the way it is rationed and provided to those who can pay the most, not those who need it the most, is equally disturbing and intriguing.

Neatly divided up into 8 parts, the book is a journey and a guide, well researched (there are 35 pages of notes at the end before you even get to the Bibliography or index) I’m looking forward to the rest of it. Anyone interested in the environment, water and/or different cultures will find this interesting reading indeed.

You can watch an interview with James below, and you can buy the book from Amazon for around $17 (hardcover).

Eco Canteen Steel Water Bottle Review

We’ve tested a lot of water bottles at Life Goggles (look under Home), but I have to say stainless steel bottles are still my favourite.

Even with BPA-free reusable plastic water bottles I simply prefer the taste of the water from them. I certainly don’t need to tell you about the reasons not to use disposable plastic bottles although the other week I used one myself without thinking, all too easily done!

So Eco Canteen sent us some bottles to test, the bottles are stainless steel, no aluminum, with a plastic cap (polyproylene #5 as apparently that’s the safest, non-leaching plastic). You can put the bottle in the dishwasher, but just wash the cap in soapy water. As you can see from the picture the bottle is clean in design, 26oz (a 16oz version is available) and has a wide enough neck to take ice cubes (one problem with my SIGG).

The Eco Canteen also has a carabiner clip on the top to hook to your backpack or sports bag, and comes with a free insulated tote (although a small additional p&h charge is included). Mine came in black, though their websites show blue and green too. It has a little shoulder strap should you ever need to carry it that way or secure it to something else. The bottle arrived securely but minimally packaged.

So if you’re looking to give up the plastic habit and save money, and want to try stainless steel water bottles then check them out.

Green Store News: December

Yep, it’s December already, how fast the year goes eh? Anyway here’s another Green Store News update for you.

Christmas already?
The Eco-Design Fair is in its fifth year and is a great place to do your Christmas shopping. On sale are gadgets, home accessories, fashion, footwear, jewellery, sculpture, books, technology, toys and many more alternative lifestyle products.

I’m particularly looking forward to trying out the edible shoe polish! Details of place and dates are below:
Saturday 13th December – 12pm til 7pm. Sunday 14th December – 11am til 7pm.
The Boiler House
The Old Truman Brewery, 152 Brick Lane
London E1 6RU
Entry: £2. Conc: £1

Kids, kids, kids
Kids love getting presents (who doesn’t?), and Nigel’s Eco Store is doing its best to make it easy to get them something eco-friendly. There’s the lovely Penguin Torch pictured, which is powered by winding up or even shaking.

There’s also the intriguingly-named Mr Robot Head and the Solar Powered Toy Aircraft Kit which I have a feeling is for adults really.

 
 

What’s a Wottle?
It’s the new, designer eco water bottle, that’s what a Wottle is. Available at Ethical Superstore the Wottle is designed by er designer Orla Kiely and BRITA, the water filter company. Made from 100% recycled materials, that’s about all you can say about it really until we can test and review it. Oh, it’s £7.99.

We Want Tap Review

It’s hard to call this a product review as We Want Tap is more of a campaign that does a few products too. The campaign is by Provokateur which also did the ACME Climate Action book so I knew it was going to be a bit different and funky. We Want Tap encourages you to drink tap water as opposed to bottled water. And that’s it really but the way the company is doing it is through taste testing and a lot of promotion – it recently featured on the front cover of Design Week. The campaign even has a Facebook page of its own.

As with ACME, We Want Tap also has a video which explains what it’s all about.

The website has lots of information on there and is a great resource to try and wean people off bottled water. What We Want Tap sent me was the 400ml reusable bottle worth £6 and the DIY Bottle Labelling Kit and stickers worth £4.

Apart from beer, the only other drink I have regularly is tap water. I have to admit to filtering it though as it’s a bit funny where I live now, usually I don’t care and will have it from the tap (if it’s cold). We do recycle the filter cartridges by the way. Anyway the 400ml bottle has already come in useful and I find it much better than using an old plastic bottle when out for the day. I don’t know much about what it’s made of – plastic and metal – but if it cuts down on using bottles then I’m all for it. I like the way the lid is connected to the bottle too.

I was also sent some bottle labels and stickers. You get five labels for smaller bottles and five for bigger ones. The smaller ones also have a few little stickers to put on bottles, fridges and around the place. And they’re incredibly easy to use. Just pull off the old label and wrap around the new one. There’s a handy chart for you to tick off when you’re used the bottle once and after ten times you can recycle it. Soon all those pesky bottles will have been recycled and you can get back to using a reusable bottle. The stickers are printed using vegetable ink, printed on chlorine free 100% recycled paper with a biodegradable laminate and only the sticker backing can’t be recycled.

I heartily recommend checking out We Want Tap and if you need help convincing others about how good tap water is, they have a Tap Challenge on the site which is great.

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