Water Reflection

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Recommended: Water scarcity: a global issue

My view on water has not changed dramatically since taking this course, however, this is because I always respected water in many respects. I never thought water was unlimited, and I have for as long as I can remember tried to tell those around me to respect water more. That being said, some aspects of this course have made me think more about my actions and the global effects of the water crisis. There really aren’t any unlimited resources on earth, and more people need to become educated about that.
I did learn a lot more about the effects of agriculture and non-sustainable designing. Water is central to almost everything in life, and while it is terrific that Ithaca College has taken that into consideration when they designed the newer buildings, many organizations do not take that into consideration. It is impressive that the newer buildings at Ithaca are sustainable as we learned about from Mark Darling, it would be better if Ithaca also put effort into adapting the older buildings as well. Because of our discussions about the effects of non-sustainable practices, I would always choose to support, in one way or another, an organization that spent the extra money on sustainable practices.
I think of water as a necessity, not necessarily as something beautiful or as a kind of art. That is not to say that water cannot be beautiful, but I think that more people need to start thinking about it like gasoline. Other than not destroying the environment, water is analogous to gasoline. Both are non-renewable substances that are consumed in massive quantities for by the general public daily. Gasoline is necessary for driving, such as water is necessary for life. But while most people realize that the global supply of gasoline is dw...

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...A good example of this is that 20% of the US water footprint is external, meaning that a fifth of the water Americans use is accounted for by Chinese manufacturing (waterfootprint.org). These figures do matter, and the more they are circulated the more people will pay attention.
The US uses 30% of the world’s freshwater, and has only 5% of the global freshwater, this statistic is not widely spread but it is alarming and it should be reported more than it is. There are many ways that we should be addressing this issue, but one is through ecological design which is an emerging field that focuses on how we can use new technology to reduce the amount of water we are using (Lohan). The US already invests billions in this industry, and we should continue this trend because it is a sign that people are alright with their tax dollars being spent on investing in the future.

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