{"id":152795,"date":"2021-02-23T08:45:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T00:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/?p=152795"},"modified":"2025-01-02T16:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T08:10:14","slug":"save-water-help-the-environment-reduce-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/save-water-help-the-environment-reduce-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen: How and why we need to save water, starting now"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re serious about sustainability<\/a> and helping our planet by living more cruelty-free<\/a> lifestyles here at Honeycombers. Whether you do your part for the planet by only buying eco-friendly fashion<\/a> or if you have chosen a vegetarian or vegan<\/a> lifestyle, you may be interested to learn that the world needs help to save water, and fast. Here, sustainability educator Joakim Cimmerbeck opines on why and how Hong Kong can help get the planet back on track.<\/p>\n

OPINION<\/h2>\n

Why we need to save water right now<\/h3>\n
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Drinking water is only a tiny percentage of total global water supplies used each day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Water. One of the world\u2019s most dwindling natural resources, but despite this fact, I get the feeling we have not yet started to care enough about it. The thing is, we can not live without water, and you may not even realise how huge a part it plays in industries like manufacturing and agriculture.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to think about water in its physical form: that cup you are drinking out of right now, what you wash your vegetables in or what you will bathe in tonight. The thing is, water is used everywhere. From your clothes to your car to the pasta you are planning on making for dinner, and it\u2019s the way that it’s used that you don\u2019t see that is depleting our resources.<\/p>\n

What uses the largest amounts of water?<\/h3>\n
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We hate to break it to you, but manufacturing processes for fashion and consumer goods use a heck of a lot of water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The biggest user of our fresh water is the growing industry that exists to feed us and help us with all the things that we need for our everyday life. Around 70% of all water is used in agricultural industry and around 20% for other industrial use, such as fracking, cooling and cleaning. The smallest usage is for our consumption, only around 10%. (1)\/(2)<\/p>\n

We could simply blame the industry and ask them to stop. However, we are the ones that need to change to enable this, as producers only make what they can sell. They produce what we demand at the price we are prepared to pay. If we enjoy being able to drink water freely and shower daily, then we need to change how we think about water and we need to change dramatically.<\/p>\n

So how much water do we have left?<\/h3>\n

Keep in mind that the planet that we live on is two thirds wet and wonderful. Water we can drink and use for our ever-growing industrial demand equates to less than 2% of it all. The biggest deposit of water we can use is permanently frozen; the ice caps around the poles and Greenland store a lot of our fresh water.<\/p>\n

Expressed in numbers it looks something like this: saline water 332 million cubic miles, fresh water 5 million cubic miles and the permanently frozen fresh water is almost 7 million cubic miles. (3)<\/p>\n

What can I do to help save water?<\/h3>\n
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By implementing small changes like turning the tap off when we brush our teeth, we can all do our bit to save water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every little thing counts, but as you can see from the statistics it\u2019s not going to make much difference if we only reduce our drinking water. The annual growth of industrial demand is greater that what humans consume in a year, a pretty big statistic to get your head around, but one we we need to think about.<\/p>\n

The first and most important thing we need to do is to stop our over consumption. We have too much of everything right now and we need to take stock of what we are buying. We need to balance our consumption and that will lead to a balanced production. If you think about the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra, then we need to target the Reduce part by becoming more conscious consumers.<\/p>\n

You might be interested to learn these facts, bearing in mind that one gallon is around the weight of a large bag of potatoes.<\/p>\n