Read & Seed 5: Fourth Quarter and Final Review of Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis

1. The chapters I've covered this week were 7 and 8, pages 153-226.
2. Main topics of I read about were:

• The rising cost of water
• Not all areas have inadequate water, just inadequate storage for the water they do have.
• Americans waste nearly 640 billion gallons of water per year flushing old inefficient toilets. That's the equivalent of fifteen day's worth of flow over Niagara Falls.

3. Some significant things I learned were:

• Americans spent an estimated nearly 11.2 billion on bottled water in 2008. 
• Water is the least expensive in the Midwest and most expensive in the Northeast. 
• Bottled water costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water, depending on the origin of the bottled water. (packaging, production and water required)
• There is no "simple" solution to this water problem .

4. We should care about the fact that there is no simple solution to this problem because when we all finally realize that there is a very dangerous problem among us, it might be too late to come up with and implement the complicated solution that it will take to overcome this. We need to start looking at our needs vs. our demands. For example, lowering non-priority uses such as lawn watering. Also, we can start including the environmental costs in the price of water.
5. What needs to be done to address this problem is awareness. People need to know how much water we are wasting and can not get back. If people understood that water isn't something that we are always going to have readily available. Starting to plan and make a difference can be very beneficial to us all if we start now.
6. Overview of the book is basically giving facts about how much water we use not only for drinking and everyday use but also for production of things. Also, how people have rights over water and we need to be aware that just because you might live on the land above the water source or the river that runs through your land you don't necessarily own it.
7. Three most significant things you learned.

1. I learned that the amount of water on earth is constant, what changes is the form it takes-liquid, ice, or vapor, the amount of pollution, and the accessibility of the water
2. I also learned 70% of earth is water, yet only 1 percent of that water is readily accessible freshwater. 97% of this water is in oceans, salty and undrinkable unless it is desalinated which is very costly which leaves 3% freshwater. 2% of this freshwater is glaciers, polar ice caps and groundwater, which only leaves us with the 1% freshwater made up by ground and surface water
3. People think that drinking out of water bottles is safer than drinking tap water, think again. Bottled water isn't tested as regularly as faucet water for impurities and pollutants. Also, many popular brands such as Dasani and Aquafina are tap water or come from public reservoirs. A study was done that tested ten US bottled water brands in eight states and the District of Columbia and found thirty-eight pollutants including bacteria, fertilizer, Tylenol, and industrial chemicals.

8. These things are important because we need to understand how much water is actually available to us. And that much of the water is not readily available because it is in the form of ice and glaciers and must be melted in order for it to even be considered for use. Also important, is the fact that many people think bottled water is so much better for them, but in all reality it isn't always the case.
9. I recommend this book for others to read so that they can fully understand the predicament we are in with a possible water shortage. We need to start informing people if we want anything to change, and this book is a factual way to do that.

Share & Voice: Murphy Oil owners want to expand in Superior

Murphy Oil, Inc.

I found this article after watching the movie in Monday's class. This is Murphy Oil, the refinery located in Superior, WI. The article talks about how the owners of Murphy are wanting to expand the refinery in order to have more capacity. The reason we have been seeing some of the highest gas prices in the country in the Midwest is because we don't have enough refining capacity in this region. Their main points were that by expanding they can increase the worth of the city, comparing the 6.2 billion dollar investment to the total worth of Superior currently at 1.5 billion we can see just how much money we could bring to our community. This would create roughly 400 new jobs however there are a few important reasons the company is hesitant to expand. First, many residents are worried about the additional pollution. Also, talk of moving to smarter more efficient fuels to run the economy have been being talked about for the past few years.

This made me really start to think of how having this refinery so close to our homes could possibly be contaminating our air and talk of expansion could make the problem worse. The article also mentioned how high prices of gas may be a good thing, to kind of give people a push to move toward safer cleaner fuels. If people started realizing how much were paying for gas is getting ridiculous we might start switching to smarter alternatives.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

 For the cosmetic safety review eye opener I chose to use my shampoo (TIGI Bed Head Moisture Maniac) as the cosmetic product. The results I got from this were kind of scary. It said that ingredients in this product have been linked to cancer, allergies/immunotoxicity, and developmental/reproductive toxicity. This really makes me think if I should be using this product. I continued to scroll down to read some more of the details and I saw that some of the things it was linked to, such as cancer, had little evidence. So it makes me think if one person out of 1,000 got cancer and just happened to use this shampoo is that what they're using in this study? Also, much of the evidence was at high doses, although it doesn't specify what they consider a high dose, I don't believe washing my hair once a day qualifies as a high dose. Yes, I need to probably look for a shampoo that doesn't have such high ratings but I also think more studies need to be done to better prove the evidence.