How to Save Water

Water is probably the most precious resource we have. Sadly it has long been abused and misused. Each day our water supply is put under greater and greater stress. However, there are a few things all of us can do to help. Here are a few water-saving tips that we can all follow.

1. Don’t ignore dripping faucets. Always close faucets properly or, if needed, fix them as soon as possible. A dripping faucet can waste around 75 liters in only one day.

2. Install new water-saving fixtures. New technologies now allow us to help the Earth. Part of saving water and having a greener home includes installing things such as low-volume toilets, low-flow showerheads, and water efficient washing machines. All of these fixtures can be purchased at a reasonable price, and in the end, the money and water saved makes it worth it.

3. Practice good water habits. This is probably the oldest and easiest water-saving tip. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or washing your hands. Promote the 5-minute shower. Wash clothes only in full loads. You can measure your success by comparing water bills. If your water costs are lower, you are doing a good job.

4. Avoid purchasing water bottles. In reality, there is nothing wrong with tap water. It undergoes health regulations and in some cases, it is even better for you. Don’t waste your money on bottled water. Instead, carry a thermos you can refill. By doing this, not only are you helping the world’s water supply, you are also helping reduce the amount of trash we produce.

5. Encourage responsible gardening. If you have a garden or a backyard, plant native plants or plants that don’t require a lot of water. Whenever you water your plants do it in the early morning or in the late evening. These are times when there is not much sun, so the water won’t evaporate.

6. Take advantage of the rain. Harvest rainwater and use it for irrigation.

7. Keep an eye out. Be on the lookout for leaks, broken pipes, and other forms of wasting water. Report them or fix them as soon as possible.

8. Inform others. Encourage friends and family to put these tips into practice too.

Ada Bersoza

How to Help the Earth?

Here are a few everyday tips that could be done to help our planet, at least one tiny bit.

1. Recycle

2. Avoid using plastic bags.

3. Turn off the lights when nobody’s in the room

4. Switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

5. Take quick showers, not baths.

6. Don’t leave the water running.

7. Avoid throwing trash on the floor

8. Don’t leave electrical appliances such as TVs, stereos, etc. on standby. Shut them off instead.

9. Print on both sides of the paper.

10. Don’t pre-heat your oven when baking.

11. Reuse gift-wrap or use recycled material to wrap your gifts.

12. Avoid buying disposable goods such as coffee cups and water bottles. Invest in a thermos or coffee mug.

13. Donate old things. Don’t just throw them away.

14. Use rechargeable batteries.

15. Don’t leave the refrigerator door open.

16. Avoid buying heavily packaged products.

17. Carpool

18. Buy local goods to avoid the ecological impact of having goods imported all the way to where you live.

19. Get others to act too.

20. Don’t ever think that what you do does not impact our planet.

Ada Bersoza

Milk Crisis in Europe

For a few weeks now, farmers throughout the European Union have been protesting against a crisis in the dairy industry by dumping their milk stocks. The problem here is that in the European milk market, prices have fallen because there is a lot of supply and a lack of demand.

Millions of gallons of milk have been dumped as farmers see their sale price steadily decrease. However, agriculture and farming ministers from all over the European Union have set up a special meeting to take place in Brussels in order to discuss the dairy crisis.

Ada Bersoza

Coral Bleaching

Corals are tiny animals that live in colonies, forming what we know as coral reefs. Coral reefs also include many other biological communities, creating a diverse ecosystem. Corals depend on a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae capable of performing photosynthesis, known as zooxanthellae.

It is also responsible for giving corals their color. Zooxanthellae performs photosynthesis and produces food, which it shares with the coral. The coral, in turn provides the algae with protection and access to sunlight. Zooxanthellae are accountable for 90% of a coral’s nourishment.

However, under stressful conditions, corals may actually expel their algae. This is known as coral bleaching. Without their algae, the white coral skeleton is exposed and the organism slowly starves and eventually dies.

Coral bleaching has several causes. Among the most common are increases in water temperature and ocean acidification. Coral reefs can only tolerate a very narrow range of water conditions. This means that they cannot withstand extreme temperature changes. Increased acidity in the ocean water also acts as a stress factor. Corals that are able to survive the stressful period, usually take years to recover and without the algae they suffer a loss of nourishment, which affects all reef-dwellers.

Coral reefs are important to preserve because they are home to many other organisms such as oysters, clams, crabs, shrimp, sea urchin, sea stars, jellyfish, anemones, and many fish species. The death of one of these reefs means the loss of one nature’s most diverse and productive ecosystems.

Ada Bersoza

Transiciones

"¿Qué nos impide salvar a nuestro planeta hoy en día?"

No es que te pida que te vuelvas el próximo presidente de Greenpeace y logres la paz ecológica universal. Hoy en día gozas de una variedad de adelantos tecnológicos que facilitan todas tus actividades en tu vida diaria. Ahora eres, como muchos otros pocos, beneficiados con diversidad de medios que otros no tienen. La conciencia de tu poder y tu influencia en la sociedad es, sin embargo, poca o nula. ¿Has llegado a pensar en las diferentes y pequeñas cosas que puedes hacer para lidiar con los problemas, en vez de que ignorarlos?

¡Ahora la situación ecológica del globo está peor que nunca, y nosotros, más que nadie, y por poseer los recursos de la comunicación, lo sabemos! Revistas, periódicos, grupos internacionales y hasta tu propia escuela se han puesto las pilas para dar su granito y (si se puede) su cubeta de arena, y han sumado esfuerzos para transformar a las palabras “sustentable” y “balance” en términos claves para nuestras vidas. Y, consciente o inconscientemente, tú y yo sabemos que han pagado un precio alto, que todo lo bueno e innovador tiene un costo: la pérdida de la comodidad. Perder lo que nos conviene hace dudar sobre lo que debemos hacer.

Queriéndolo o no, eres parte de una generación que nació en una época que entremezcla dos formas de vida. Primeramente, has sido criado por tus padres, quienes no tenían ni idea de lo que significaban palabras tales como “sustentable”, “calentamiento global” y “crisis ecológica”. ¡Si apenas sabían lo que era un celular! La sociedad de antes se encargaba de usar los recursos. En resumen: consumo, consumo, consumo. Después de un tiempo, cuando el mundo se iba internacionalizando, todos se dieron cuenta (¡por fin!) de que algo iba mal. Han pasado unas tres décadas desde que algunas investigaciones pusieran nerviosas a la comunidad científica y se levantara la voz contra los medios incorrectos que se empleaban para progresar. Y, también, hace unos cuantos años, se dieron cuenta de que las generaciones del futuro, y no las que habían causado todo, debían tener lo que al final de cuentas no habían tenido las personas de antes: información y conciencia. ¿De quién hablaban? Hablaban sobre nosotros, y nadie más.

Desgraciadamente, para cuando se dieron cuenta de esto, nosotros teníamos unos siete u ocho años. Habíamos experimentado ya las delicias de la inmoderación: derroche, mala administración de los recursos, una decadente explotación de la naturaleza. Y entonces, dan clic en el botón de reiniciar y te dicen: “Oye, ¿sabes qué? Aunque no te lo hayan dicho, no puedes dejar prendidas las luces, la basura debe ser dividida en reciclable o no reciclable, lo mejor es recolectar y mandar periódicos, latas y plástico a plantas donde las aceptan y pueden volver a procesarlas. Los autos son lo peor de lo peor, evítalos; busca formas de que te puedas bañar en cinco minutos, y con agua fría, porque la caliente necesita más energía del boiler…”. Y te cae el veinte de que tienes que cambiar tus hábitos, tu estilo de vida, tus reacciones, acciones y pensamiento. Te encuentras con el dilema de elegir entre el carro rojo descapotable con trescientos caballos de fuerza que querías o seguir la recomendación de “usar bicicletas, transporte urbano o un carro pequeño, pero eficiente”. Gastar el tiempo pensando en si es o no biodegradable un producto, en si la industria que lo fabricó está contaminando ríos o tierras, o si la compañía que tiene el champú con aroma floral no estará matando focas en el Ártico. Tienes un peso enorme sobre tus hombros y la responsabilidad de cuidar un planeta que otros habían pisoteado antes que tú. ¿Por qué nosotros? ¿Por qué no podemos hacer lo mismo que hacían las personas antes que nosotros, hace veinte años?

No hay respuesta para eso. No hay nada escrito y la verdad es que tienes todo el derecho de que te valga un comino todas esas exageraciones ambientalistas, y decidas que la comodidad debe ir encima de todo. Decidir usar los medios que se te dan para tu beneficio.

Otro grupo de personas, por otro lado, están aceptando el reto. Lograron pasar de esos hábitos nocivos a unos que equilibran su forma de ser y su forma de comunicarse. Usan los medios que tienen ahora para hacer de este un lugar mejor. Y se han arriesgado a quemarse al meter las manos al fuego por algo en lo que en verdad creen. Y aunque pierden lujos, ganan el privilegio de sentirse bien consigo mismos. Y creo que vale más una conciencia limpia que una vida de lujos diarios sin porvenir.

Fanny Esquivel

Fish Farms

Fish farming or “aquaculture” has become increasingly popular nowadays. In fact, it accounts for around thirty percent of all the sea animals consumed yearly. The aquaculture industry is growing three times faster than land-based animal agriculture.

Fish farms can either be land or ocean based. In land, thousands of fish are raised in ponds, pools, or concrete tanks where they live a crowded and uncomfortable life. In the ocean, fish are packed together in net or mesh cages close to the shoreline. No matter their location, fish farms are a source of pollution and stand for animal suffering.

Fish in aquafarms spend their lives in a cramped and unclean environment. Many of them become ill or suffer infections or injuries. Forty percent of farmed fish die before they are ready to become food.

Aquaculture also poses a threat to the environment. Ocean-based farms are full of parasites and diseased that may spread to other organisms living nearby. Also, both land and ocean farms pollute waters with tremendous amounts of fish feces and they both require great amounts of wild-caught fish to feed the fish they are raising.

The fishing industry plunders our oceans, destroys vital ecosystems, and threatens biodiversity. Keep fish off your plate and in the ocean!

Ada Bersoza

Save the Turtles

Six of the seven species of marine turtles are listed as endangered or critically endangered. Even though the turtles are able to reproduce abundantly, few offspring survive because of natural predators and human interference. By disturbing nesting beaches and harvesting turtle eggs, human make it even more difficult for young turtles to live past their first year.

Those eggs that are not taken by humans nor damaged in any other way finally hatch. However, the hatchlings still have a long and dangeroud journey in front of them. They must leave the nesting ground and make their way back to the sea. On the way they may encounter natural predators such as birds, crabs, and foxes. There is a naturally low survival rate for these young turtles, and it is pushed even lower if humans interfere.

Another critial problem is that, even when turtles are able to lay hundred of eggs in one nesting season; it takes them decades to reach maturity. Turtles need to survive many years in order to be able to reproduce, but fishing nets and pollution are the causes of high mortality rates of these creatures. Turtles get caught on fishing nets, while others mistake plastic bags for food.

Finally, habitat destruction also threatens marine turtles. Many female return to their nesting sites only to find humans have built around the sea. Also, the lighting on beaches may confuse newborn turtles, making them head towards land instead of water.

So now you know the hard life marine turtles have to go through. Surviving is hard enough for them without us, humans, making it worse. Next time, don't use a plastic bag, instead bring your own reusable and eco-friendly bag. Also, if you are on vacation in a turtle territory, avoid polluting the beach and if it is nesting season, don't walk on the beach at night and don't disturb the females or their nests. Finally, spread the news around and let everyone know about the danger marine turtles are in.

Ada Bersoza