We also participated in a Socratic Seminar where we discussed the water struggles faced by Binayo and other women in her village.
In your post respond (in paragraph form) to the following prompts
- How does your water usage compare to your classmates, to all NYers, to Binayo, to people from your home country? ---- use data in your response (follow the link below)
- Is your water usage sustainable?
- Should safe access to drinking water be a right?
- How could we ensure that all people on earth have enough water?
- What are your lasting impressions from this weeks class?
- Will you use what you've learned to change the actions of yourself, family, or country?
The best posts will comment on the actual data and graphs created from our water calculator activity found here and cite textual evidence from the 'Burden of Thirst' article we read in class.
If you have time try out another way to calculate the amount of water you use in your life found here.
Don't forget to bring in your trip slip and $5
ReplyDeleteThis week we learned about the sustainability of water and what was interesting was that we had to count the amount in gallons that we used during the day and week and it was a huge surprise because I didn’t know that I wasted soo much water. Then we read an article about a woman named Binayo, who doesn’t have asses to clean water, that made me feel soo much guilt and compassion as well, through all those found feelings it made me want to actually try and find a way to reduce my water consumption, in the article it stated " The average American uses a hundred gallons of water just at home every day; Aylito Bibayo makes do with two and a half gallons "( “ The burden of thirst “paragraph 8) . This connects to the video that we saw in class because in the video it was said that we were using tomorrow’s water for today’s crops. We are not living a sustainable life and that the generations to come will pay for our mistakes. After learning more about the sustainability of the water I continued to think about Binayo and how I believe that there should be something made about it to change the situation that they are currently in. There should be a law that prevents the usage of the dirty water because “ Dirty water and lack of a toilet and proper hygiene kill 3.3 million people around the world annually most of them children under age five “ ( paragraph 2) this shows that without proper access to clean water there will more deaths. But even with a law being created against the usage of dirty water this people have for years used this type of water and won’t be able to change their life style. However something that will create a large change would be if people in America knew that the extreme usage of water can actually impact negatively people that are in places like Africa they will change their habits, if they knew that people lost their lives when consuming dirty water. When examining in class the usage of water I noticed that females used more water than males the average was of 1,628 between both sexes, as well I took note that the most time was taken while showering this led me to believe that if decreased the time in the shower and the time that the shower was left running we can actually make a difference. After learning about the life that Aylito Bibayo goes through it made me want to make a difference in my life and the way that I consume water.
ReplyDeleteIt never crossed my mind to ever measure the amount of water I use per day or in a week, the results amazed me as much as I was disappointed by my results being 140 gallons a day and 983 gallons a week. What concerned me the most is that some of my classmates use the double or triple of gallons of water per week as mine. Even though I use less water than some of my classmates, the amount of water I use is still unacceptable. The average American uses 176 gallons of water per day making it 1,232 gallons per week! While the average African family uses 5 gallons a day, that's 35 gallons a week as such described in the article of The Burden of Thirst, Binayo has to go through a series of exploitations in order to gather enough water to survive a day. Does this sound just or disappointing? To me, this sounds like a crime. The amount of water I use is not sustainable. Reflecting upon how much water I waste is unacceptable, if we think and realize that an average and by average it mostly means poor, the average African family lives on 5 gallons of water while I live on 140 of gallons a day, the effort I do to keep a sustainable usage of water is not the best I can do and should do. This is a very serious matter to me because I recently began to believe in the concept of sustainability. Access to safe water should be a right. The idea of having rights stand for being able to have freedom without any actions or decisions being deprived from an individual, the idea of being well and being safe is that everyone should be able to be granted of? To my believes, yes. People in the world should be granted with safe water to survive, at least that should be one of the things that people should never be denied of. To ensure that people in earth get their hands on safe water has been a controversy for as long as humans began to exploit the earth's natural resources, but only if we all begin to do a little of our own part in order to provide water for those who are less fortunate. Binayo's people eventually began to experience and receive help little by little, everyone who is less fortunate should be granted with the same help. One of the most recent innovations to get safe water has been the creation of filters, water filters like the PUR filters and the Brita filters. I myself carry a water bottle that contains a Brita filter inside and for every 100 refills my water bottle makes water becomes safe for me to drink. If only instead of having too much pride we could conserve water and stop wasting or using unnecessary water the world for those who are less fortunate could become a safer world to live in even if it is just the taste of clean water. My impressions still are today the amount of water I waste and the amount of water a group of people in Africa uses. The way I am spoiled with the advantage of water I have to my hand rather than realizing how lucky I am to have those advantages and thinking of ways in which I can improve the ways I live and the way I can change the lives of others. It is really selfish of myself to think only for myself and not care for the lives of others, even though some may argue that it is none of my concern because those less fortunate are not my family, we are all part of this world and in order to keep being part of it we all must learn how to take care of it and take care of each other. What I learned this week has made me think a lot and I think it is time to take action and stop the abuse of natural resources. Every day I use water I will try to either use it by decent quantities or by drinking it all rather than throwing out a couple of drop out of my cup. I think since I am a new generation of the earth it is my job to do what is to be done and that is to set a future example for the future generations that will probably think that natural resources do not have limits or disadvantages to their use with excess.
ReplyDeleteComparing my usage of water to my classmates I would say I use up a lot of water because the average was just under 180. Now, compared to all New Yorkers I would be considered a waste of water because I myself use 190 gallons of water per day while the average New Yorker uses about 139 gallons per day. I actually felt bad when I compared my water usage to Binayos because where she is from they use only 50 gallons in a year and i use more then 2 times that in a day. Personally, my water usage i think is far from sustainable because i leave the water running a lot of the times. I believe that it should be a right because thats the least people in Binayos situation can have. They barely get clean water and on top of that they're risking there lives to get clean or dirty water. I dont think we can. the reason why is because a country can help another but their first priority is their own country and people in it. Honestly Im still young so i probably will just keep using water how i use it but that just me being honest because people might lie and not even care while i feel bad for people in that situation but me not using so much water wont help. i feel like we wont run out of water ever so it really doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteIn learning about how much water I use each day strucked me because it never came to my mind if I was using too much water or if there were other people in the world who didn't have access to clean water and were dying of diseases. My water usage compares to my classmates in that I was shocked that I use 569.75 gallons of water in a week compared to my classmates that use double and triple times the water that I use in a week. When looking at the gallons/day graph, in our class the females use more gallons of water than the males because the females in our class use water to clean dishes, take a shower, etc. My water usage compared to Binayo is very different because Binayo can only hirstcarry two jerry cans, in the article 'The Burden of Thirst' it says " The average American uses a hundred of water just at home every day; Aylito Binayo makes do with two and a half gallons" (paragraph 9). Many Americans don't realize how much gallons of water they are using at home each day and forget that there are people like Binayo that have to walk lots of miles just to get water and that water that she gets is not even clean water its contaminated. My water usage compares to all NYers differently because when looking at the gallons per day (Classes 2013), all NYers only use 136 gallons of water a day which is different from my water usage because I use 81.4 gallons of water per day which is less than what all NYers use per day compared to my usage of water. I think my water usage is not sustainable because now that I know how much gallons of water I use in one week I feel unhappy because I didn't realize that in other countries people don't have access to clean water just like Binayo. I think safe access to drinking water should be a right because everyone should have the right to have access to clean water but in the article 'The Burden of Thirst' it says " Yet nearly 900 million people in the world have no access to clean water, and 2.5 billion people have no safe way to dispose of human waste" (paragraph 2). The 900 million people in the world have access to water but water that is contaminated/polluted because there's no other way that they can access clean water like us in the United States and have to drink water that is dirty and unsafe that can lead to those people dying of diseases because the water isn't clean. We could ensure that all people on earth have enough water by reducing the amount of gallons of water we use each day and also by ensuring that when drinking water we don't throw away the water because the whole point of living a sustainable life is to do things that will make the world a better place to live in. My lasting impressions from this weeks class is that I learned so many things of how much water I use every day and also in a week and I think its time that I take action and change how much gallons of water I use a week because if I start to do this then everyone around the world will eventually have access to clean water. I think if I reduce the amount of time I take a shower then that will save the water for future generations and also when brushing my teeth I should turn off the faucet so that I don't leave the water running while brushing my teeth. In the end it is my responsibility to make sure that we save the natural resources for future generations and making sure that everyone in the world has access to clean water so that everyone can live a sustainable life and in a sustainable world.
ReplyDeleteThe water usage compared to my classmates, the lowest. On average, students in my period (5), used 173 gallons per day and 1,304 gallons a week while I only used 73.25 gallons a day and 512.75 gallons a week. However, New Yorkers averaged 136 gallons per day, which is significantly lower than my average. I think that my water usage is sustainable enough because it is significantly lower than teenagers. By comparing me with adults, it’d be a fallacy since they live a different lifestyle than me. This is because most of the population is made up by adults, and therefore the water consumption for NYC in average, is very low. They do not have the luxury of hour long showers like teenagers, and instead, they take showers that are at most fifteen minutes long. However, in Dominican Republic, water consumption is very low since it is a third world country and has trouble with keeping a stable government. I couldn’t find any statistics for The Dominican Republic but personally, in my hometown Ojo De Agua, Salcedo, water is available through faucets but only if it rains enough for it to be captured via tank. Since there are usually droughts people must go to the nearest river for water which is mainly clean but has given me a parasite in which I had to take antibiotics through a needle for about two months. If the river dries out, people must walk to the second nearest river miles away, causing chaos throughout Ojo De Agua. It hasn’t dried out recently, but it has been a hard road. It must be a lot harder in Binayo’s village however, since they have no access to water through a faucet and the nearest river is up a mountain miles away just to carry back 50 pounds of water to their family.
ReplyDeleteSafe access to drinking water should be an inalienable right, since we are human and our bodies depend on it. By removing a person’s right to getting water, you are removing their chance of survival and increasing struggle for everyday life. It is impossible to ensure that the rest of the world has enough water to live comfortably because it’s a government’s job to ensure their country, not the rest of the world, has enough water. Even if there was an organization whose sole purpose was to provide fresh clean water to countries with no access to it, they would need major funding from other organizations or donations to do anything. It would take millions to even billions of dollars to truly make an impact in these countries. The most that can be done is spread the word and write letters to the government, elect a representative that believes in fresh water for everyone, and hopefully one day each country will slowly build itself up.
Ever since we learned about water and sustainability, I’ve been noticing a lot more things in my community. People that leave the faucet on have no idea that they’re wasting so much water and do not realize how precious this resource is. Lately, I’ve even been turning off the shower faucet in between rinses to avoid wasting any more water.
I think that my water usage is in the middle compares to my classmates because there were some people whose water usage was more than mine and some which used less water than me. Compared to people from the Dominican Republic, I think my water usage is more than what people there use. This Is because warm water isn't always easily accessible in some parts of the Dominican Republic, people fill up a bucket before they shower and then shower, while here, I leave the water running the entire time that I am taking a shower, which is on the main things that we use water on. My water usage is not as sustainable as it could be. To have a sustainable life means that we are constantly conserving our resources in order to be able to provide enough for our future generations, yet the amount water that I use; not that it is an incredibly large amount; but compared to people like Binayo which don't even have the choice to use more than a couple gallons per day, my water usage seems as though it isn't sustainable.
ReplyDeleteSafe access to drinking water should definitely be a right. Not only because that fact that “nearly 900 million people in the world have no access to clean drinking water” and because of this 3.3 million people die yearly, most of these people being children under age 5 is shocking and honestly really depressing , but because water is what provides us with life. Without water there is no life. Safe access to drinking water will begin a chain of life; harsh living conditions and lifestyles like the one a child like Binayo has to live in daily will improve drastically.
I don’t think that there is a guaranteed way to ensure that everybody on Earth has enough water because less than 1% of Earths water is actually safe to drink, yet the most useful method is probably to divide the water amongst all according to the amount of people who live there in order to ensure that all people there will be able to have access to water. This week in class I realized that we use water daily that we could easily be saving up if we just look closer at the water we are using and see how we could conserve it in something as easy as turning off the faucet when we aren’t using it. I will definitely use what I have learned and apply it to myself and my family because after learning how hard situations are for children and families in these places which don't have access to clean water really opened my eyes and made me realize that we take water for granted while we could be conserving it daily.
This week as I learned about water usage, I was very surprised because people like us who have total access to water do not really think about where it comes from. As I was thinking about it, I realized that people today are using the resources from tomorrow. When we we talking about women in Kenya, I realized that we should be worried about the amount of water we use because there is people that don't have and sometimes we do not appreciate what we have. Those women have to deal with the pain of having to go for 5 hour walks every single day and twice a day. It is not fair because not only the fact that they are the ones who have the biggest responsibility, but also, if they stay home when they are really tired, their society don't consider them hardworking. It is pretty unfair, their water is not drinkable at all, it is dirty and contaminated and many people die because they get diseases from the water, however, they have no choice so they have to stick to it and accept their harsh reality. As I learned about this, I did some research on my own and found out that nearly 1 billion people in the developing world do not have access to clean water. This worries me because sometimes I see people like my aunt, that when she cooks she leaves the water running without noticing, and I wonder how much water she wastes when I'm not home. The truth is that we never think about where our water comes from, we take it for granted, water seems to be something that is just there to us. This summer when I went to the Dominican Republic, I realized that many people struggle to get water because it is not as easy to get as it is here. People in DR have to store water in buckets because sometimes they don't get water sometimes for 2 days. The truth is that we should really appreciate what we have today so we don't have to regret it tomorrow. Sometimes I feel guilty because I use too much water when I'm in the shower washing my hair. It is understandable that females waste more water than male because we do more chores at home, specially Dominicans since for some reason, we are obsessed with cleaning and using a lot of water to keep our houses clean. Since I learned all those facts in class, I've been making a huge difference in the amount of water I use, I started turning off the faucet when I'm brushing my teeth, I told my aunt to stop cleaning so much, and I take less time in the shower. All this changes as little as they seem, they can make a huge difference.Water is the foundation of life. And still today, all around the world, far too many people spend their entire day searching for it.
ReplyDeleteAlfha Gonzalez
The water usage I use is a lot compare to my most of my classmates ,more than the average new yorker which uses 136 gallons a day, also more than people in my home country of the Dominican Republic where it difficult to get water in some areas, and massive compare to binayo water usage for 2 and 1/2 gallons a day.I use 192.5 a day and 1347.25 a week most of my usage is when am taking a shower because of how long I take shower with the water running.I have been taken advantage how I been wasting water and not thinking about the future, many people like my classmate prove how most new yorker do too which mean that I don't have a sustainable water source because its not promise it will be the same easy access to water for the future generation with the limits of clean and safe we have now.The way we waste water now is how they say “we waste tomorrow's water today”which means that the promised water of tomorrow we are drinking and wasting today .This also means that are water supply isn't unlimited one day we will wake up to no clean water and go thru a struggle of getting water.I think that having clean water should be a right where water has limits per day so people don't waste water recklessly and everyone has access to water and don't have to suffer. We can ensure that all people on earth have the enough water by making wells and water pipes to transport water where they're needed and for poor country other nation should donate the money to make this happen.The lasting impression on this weeks class is how we did the study of how much water we use daily and weekly.Then a study of how people can take the quicks shower to safe water and interest ideas on how people can do the navy shower where people step in the shower get completely step out of the shower turn off the water soap their body and the rise in the shower.I will learn from my action of my usage of water and reduce the amount I use and waste by take shorter showers and turn off the water when am shaving and brushing my teeth.I will try to convince my family members to reduce the water usage they use as will while there wasting it.
ReplyDelete-Aneurys Gonzalez
This week we learned about how much water we use like New yorkers and it comes out that we use about 136 gallons of water but me as a individual use about 378 gallons a day which is way more than what new yorkers use. But not everyone around the world has this beautiful thing that they can use as much water as they want and just give a few steps and there is the water. We read a article this week call 'Burden of Thirst' which is a article that talks about the struggles that the people go through to just get water for any basic needs. According to the article these females have to walk about 50 miles to get water and they carry about 50 pounds of water carrying in their back which is crazy and these are females carrying this water. You might say where are the men isn't this their job? The men are in the house taking care of the kids. This is so negative because the fact it's so be the other way because men are supposed to do the hard things because they are men. We are suppose to be so thankful that we live in this country because we don't have to do walk so far away to get water but these people can use about 2 gallons of water and us we are just wasting water and they can only wash there clothes once a year and we can wash over clothes everyday if we wanted to. During my trip to mexico we don't have this big opportunity because we can't just spend so much water because it will run out. We really can't do anything because the government in the society because they won't listen to us because if a society doesn't have money then there is nothing they can do but all those rich people in the world can donate money so every person in the water has safe and clean water everyday.
ReplyDeleteThis week in class we measured the amount of water each of us uses. Before participating in this week’s activity, I hadn’t really thought much about the amount of water I actually used up but I did know that it was a lot. Calculating my personal water usage was something that I had never done before so to be able to see an approximation of how much water I use on a daily basis was not only interesting but also surprising. To me my results shocked me because I didn't know I use about 127 gallons a day and weekly I use about 1032.75 gallons! In addition I notice that girls use a lot more water than boys. Personally I barely paid attention to the amount of water I used a day, let alone per week. I did know that by letting the water run, I was wasting water but I never knew how much I was wasting. When I found out we were going to calculate how many gallons of water we used per week and every day, I was very excited. Using water was in my routine and it was second nature so I never bothered to check how much water I used. I thought it would be great to find out how much I used. Water has always been flowing through the shower head, the kitchen sink, as well as the bathroom sink 99% of the time. I would only think about water if for some strange reason the water wasn't their. Basically I learned the importance of conserving water because for other people getting water is such a difficult everyday task that they must encounter. Water is LIFE and without it we wouldn't survive. We use an immense amount of water for unnecessary things, while there are other people from other parts of the world who do not have any water. We are lucky to live in an area where fresh water comes to use from various places like watersheds, catskill mountains, and the Hudson River valley region. We need to control our water wasting habits because one day there won’t be any water left. In class we also had to read an article about a women living in Ethiopia and how hard it is for her and her family to access water. Binayo has to carry an empty can on her back and walk a journey to get water. She has been doing this for nearly 25 years and has to do this everyday..."The task of getting water defines life for Binayo." Words can't stress how unfair this is. We people living in America are lucky enough to have water available for our everyday use, meanwhile around 2.5 billion people have no access to safe water. Binayo dropped out of school when she was 8 years old. For her to get water is the ultimate struggle and is something she must do in order to survive. Safe access to drinking water should be a right and shouldn't be deny to no one. If we Americans have access to safe water why cant others in other parts of the world have the same right to safe water too?! Our bodies depend on water. Denying safe water to individuals is much like reducing their chance of living. I highly think that it should be a right that individuals have easy access to water. I've learned how unsustainable I've been living in which has motivated me to change my actions. In my apartment we don't have to pay for water usage. I think this is one of the reasons why we use so much water without really caring. I think that if we had to pay for water our water usage would have reduce and wouldn't use it excessively. Now I will try to take shorter showers and to turn the faucet off while brushing my teeth (not keeping it running and wasting water.) All these small changes can make a great difference!
ReplyDelete-Edelin Contreras / 2nd period.
I feel as if the water I use every day should be reduced, after reading the article about Binayo I feel like we have to start saving our environment because soon enough the pace that we are going we are not going to have it soon, everything is going to keep on changing. My water usage isn’t sustainable. Only me I use 1,178 gallons of water just in a week, I could cut that in half and that’s just helping out the environment and our future generations. I believe that safe access to drinking water should be a right for many right reasons. The reason why I think that is because if the United States is allowed to have clean water and easy access to water than why can’t we improve our ways of being and help out the ones in need. There are many ways to help out other countries even if they have no waterways we can help improve that in many ways such as giving them donations to help create a water system for them, sending families gallons of water that are in need. The way we can ensure that all people on earth would have enough water is our daily routines and how we choose to use our resources (water). For instance if we choose to wash dishes and we turn on the water all the way it’s using a lot of water that isn't needed to be wasted, when we wash dishes we have to use less water than what we are using, a dishwasher is hurting the environment even more not only is it using lots of water but its running on electricity. The thing is that us humans it would be a hard job for us to adapt to hard change like that because we are so used to using water for an hour shower, washing dishes, brushing our teeth, and etc. because of us taking use of our resources. My lasting impressions from this week’s class is that we have to realize that us as a nation are lucky that we have everything handed to us for instance in Binayo the women have to walk 50 miles by their self’s with empty gallons to go to the nearest river to get water that wasn’t even clean, all we have to do is open the handles and water is running. We have to also start realizing that we are not the only ones in this world. Every choice we make is affecting others even if we don’t realize it. I will definitely use what I learned this week to change my actions, I believe that if everybody starts to unite and compromise with what needs to be changed as one we can save and improve things that we never thought we could do. After seeing how much use of water, electricity I use I feel like I can reduce that. All our surroundings are attracting us so much that we aren’t realizing it. Even using a IPad affects the world all of the resources going into making the IPad, where it’s made at the pollution coming out of the factories and more. The more we change now the more we know that our future on this world is guaranteed, even if it’s with less water and less resources. It’s now or never and I choose now.
ReplyDeleteBefore this week of class I never though of the amount of water I use in a day or week. For example, I use 223.125 gallons per day and 1338.75 gallons per day, that amount seems a lot for one person. In my class females use more water than males. Females use close to 280 gallons of water per day while males only use close to 210 bring the average to 230 more than what all New Yorkers use, which is 136. This shows how unsustainable one classroom could waste more water than all New York. In New York we waste water because we have it and we don’t need to worry about it however there are people around the world that needs to wake up and carry “50 pounds of water on her back… three times a day nearly all her 25 years” in order to have water. We take for granted the water we have or use because we don’t have to worry where it comes from but if we had to wake up everyday worry about where we are going to water we would think twice before spending half and hour taking a bath. All this data shows how unsustainable we are because we waste water like there is no tomorrow while some people struggles to get a little water to spend the whole day. Also those people who have to carry 50 pounds of water on their back sometimes are lucky to find water because almost a whole society has to get water from the little pond. Water should be a right because we all need it to survive and those who don’t have it we have to take action to get the water available for them because instead of us wasting it we should help provide to those who need it. Through out this week I learn how much water I can use and I’m going to try and reduce it because it’s not even necessary to waste all I do.
ReplyDeleteI think my water consummation is average compared to some other people in the class and to New Yorkers. Are class consummation seemed high but we forgot to realize that we are using only a roomful of people and are estimated how much water we are using. So are calculation were probably off. Though needless to say I do use up a lot of water throughout the day like for instance I leave the water running a lot and I never thought about it too much because I grew always having an “unlimited” supply of water, so in a lot a ways I don’t use water in a sustainable fashion. Though when I read about Binayo it opened my eyes of how different to sides of the earth can be. The people of Binayo don’t have a stable water supply and the water they do get is usually dirty, this made me appreciate my lifestyle a little bit more because compared to them I’m living like a rich person. It’s sad to see people struggle for something as simple as water and I believe that clean water should be a natural right because it’s a necessity in human life, but that’s easier said than done because there have been organizations that try to get clean water to waterless societies but it seems like every other resource they’re not enough to go around
ReplyDeleteMy water usage compares to classmates, to all NYers, to Binayo, to people from D.R if very different. The reason is because I could relate to all NYers and my classmates but not to Binayo and the people from D.R. The reason why is because in the data table that Mr.Fox Created is shows that the average is 206 gallon of water a day and I use 189 gallon almost the same average. Also Nyers use 136 which is a fair distance but its almost the same. But Binayo people use 3 gallon of water a day and I think In D.r they probably you 50-80 gallon a day. This is very different from my average use of water because D.R and Binayo unfortunately have less water suppy as does NYers and we seem to take advantage of it. My water usage is very unsustainable. The reason why is because I use to much of it knowing I shouldn't be I seem to rely on it because I grow up knowing water would always be there for me. Also it's unsustainable because I keep it running even thought I know I should turn it off for example some times while I'm washing dishes I leave the water running if I get a phone call of have to go to my room to get my phone. We should have safe access to drinking water. Reason why is because in many please they don't have clean water and to result of that many people get sick or even worst die due to the water dirtiness. Also clean water should be a safe access because nobody wants to travel miles and having a family worrying if the person is going to come back or if they even going to have water to live off on. We could ensure that all people on earth have enough water by traveling around the world and seeing how the people are living off of water. OR we could also take a poll and start scaling which part of the world started off with the least amount of water and later on scale how much water the have after we tried to make sure the earth had enough water. My lasting impressions from this weeks class is how amazed I was on how much gallon of water I use compare to other people in this world and class room. Also how people seem to not try enough to give other places water when they really need it. I would use what I learn in class to make sure that I use about 5% less water each year until I am positive that the amount of water I am using is sustainable.
ReplyDeletei overuse water everyday. i personally use about 219 gallons of water a day. my classmates either use more water than i do, or they use less. New Yorkers use 136 gallons of water a day, but i feel like they already knew this information we are learning and therefore use water wisely. we didnt know this and we didnt really pay attention to the water system. theres people that need the water and we just waste it like that. people like the binayo have to struggle daily, walk long distance to a river just to get a gallon or two of water. and its the women responsibilities to do so. My water usage is not sustainable at all, i leave the water running for a long time before i get in the shower, i leave the water running when i brush my teeth or wash my face. i never really though about water ending , because the United States is a rich place and its rich of resource as well. the united states can certainly help poor countries have a good water system so like that those people can survive , a person can only last 3 days without water. thats not enough. i would try to be more sustainable, i would try because its already a habbit and even after learning it im still doing it.
ReplyDeleteI over utilize water in order to complete my daily task/responsibilities. When I recorded my water consumption it was revealed that I use about 2,837.25 average gallons of water weekly and 405.32 average of gallon daily. My consumption compares unfavorably to all NYers because all NYers consume an average of 136 gallon daily. On the other hand, i go through about three times that quantity of water in one day. This is crucial because we live in a nation which has an easy access to water and people tend to over use it. My water squandering is enormous when juxtaposed with the water usage of people in Binayo's village. According to "The Burden of Thirst" after a day of water gathering Binayo goes "up the mountain, now with nearly 12 gallons of water-a hundred pounds-on her back". This proves that i'm not using water sustainable because if she is able to survive with 12 gallons a day, my 405.32 gallons is way too much. As part of global laws enforced by the unity of nations we must embed the right to safe and easy accessible water. I harmonize with the addition of this law because water has the ability to impair citizens who struggle with obtaining it. For example, Binayo's family neutralizes most of their cash in" visits to the village clinic to cure the boys of diarrhea caused by bacteria and parasites...they get from the lack of proper hygiene and sanitation and from drinking untreated river water". An additional example is that because women in Binayo's village have to fetch water or stay home attending younger siblings while their mother fetches water " very few women in Konso have attended school". Water harms many people both financially and educationally. Which is even a greater problem because "nearly 900 million people in the world have no access to clean water...and proper hygiene kill 3.3 million people around the world annually.". Therefore i absolutely should be a right. In order for this to succeed we must not take water for granted in places where it is accessible and we must repair water pipe and water delivery throughout the entire world. One lesson i learned from this is that we must not take water for granted , which is why i will attempt to utilize it less.
ReplyDeleteDuring an entire week the estimated amount of gallons of water I use is 760, and the average per day is 108. These results concern me the most because some of my classmates use double or triple of gallons of water per week compared to mine. This isn't very sustainable, the average person uses about 220 gallons per day and compared to the amount I use is just misusing. Aylito Binayo from the article "The Burden of Thirst" struggles to obtain the basic necessity to survive, water. She has to climb steep mountains with 50 pounds of water on her back. I feel like I myself take water for granted, I don't really think about the amount of water I use per day let alone a week but after reading about Binayo's struggle makes me cherish and preserve water. I believe that everyone should have safe access to drinkable water. Water is an important resource, it is evidently clear that water is one of the prime elements responsible for life on earth. Water circulates through the land just as it does through the human body, transporting, dissolving, replenishing nutrients and organic matter, while carrying away waste material. A way that we can get people all over the globe to have accessible drinking water is to inform people. The lack of awareness about this issue has to be the main reason why not much has been done for these people. I believe the more people know the more can be done for them. One must also take full responsibility in the amount of water they use, you must persevere as much water as you can in order to not misuse water. Like Mahatma Gandhi said " You must be the change you want to see in the world". I am very fortunate to have access to water, but that doesn't mean I have to not think about those who aren't. I think if I reduce the amount of time I take a shower then that will save the water for future generations and also when brushing my teeth I should turn off the faucet so that I don't leave the water running while brushing my teeth. After learning about the life that Aylito Bibayo goes through it made me want to make a difference in my life and for future generations.
ReplyDeleteNever have I woke up and wondered how much water do I actually use, then I find out that I use 121 gallons a day. Some of my classmates use 325 gallons a day, others use 73 gallons, clearly results vary upon the person. Binayo said that she uses around 2 gallons of water a day, I personally wouldn't survive, neither would the rest of New York. All New Yorkers use atleast 136 gallons a day, clearly we are wasteful people. My water usage isn't sustainable at all, the way that I use water most certainly doesn't preserve it for future generations. I leave the sink on when I brush my teeth, I let the shower flow even when I'm not even in there. Not many people know exactly where their water comes from, including me, all we know is that at the turn of a knob water comes flowing out. It's because of this reason people don't value water as much as Binayo does, she has to spend 8 hours a day fetching water and all we have to do is get out of bed and go to the kitchen. Binayo washes her cloths once a year, Americans wash their cloths once a week. We are significantly spoiled, even in the summer time kids open up fire hydrants and play in the water as it's shooting out, how is sustainable? The right to safe drinking water shouldn't be a right, it should be a privilege. We should prove that we can all live together while preserving water for the future. Once we learn how it truly is to live without a safe water supply, only then can we have the right to a safe supply of water. One way we can ensure that everyone has water on earth is by getting the word out, most people don't know that they're wasting dozens of gallons a day, as soon as we start spreading around the statistics then the people will reduce their use of water. This weeks class really opened my eyes, I had no idea that i used so much water a day, what really hit the spot is when I compared that number to Binayo's 2 gallons a day. In America we are very wasteful with all of our resources, especially water, we haven't even earned the right to clean water. The women in Ethopia who slave 8 hours a day to bring home water deserve the right to clean water, they know what it's like to not have water, once can truly not fully understand the value of something until they do not have it anymore. I'm really going to try to reduce the amount of water I use a day, it's absurd and I know that I can do better. When the time comes for me to leave this world, the least I can do is leave my family some water.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I come back from the Dominican Republic I often feel guilty and sad to use all of the resources that there is in the United States in daily basis. Even though i feel like that, sooner or later my conscience always come at a certain ease. The United States have ruin many people's life in many ways, it colonized many countries ( my home country) and taking away their resources. Making them in need for them resources like water. I'm ashame of how bad we made other countries compared to the United States. Even though it's not entirely the reason why most countries lack water. That's one reason why I feel spoil and I Overuse water everyday. I definitely ain't sustainable due to the fact that I use plenty of water to shower, brush my teeth, and when I clean my hands. There goes hundreds of gallons wasted for just one person. That compared to my home country or to Binayo that's a lot of water for one day. Thats why i ain't sustainable at all.
ReplyDeleteI feel that its the United States responsibility to help out other countries be as fortunate as Americans are. Even though we can't change the past we can make a change as of right now. Everyone should be able to have access to clean water, and I mean everyone. It shocked me to learn that, According to "The Burden Of Thirst" , "900 million people in the world have no access to clean water..". That's something that Americans don't hear everyday. The fact that I have access to clean water at any location compare to Binayo that has to walk miles on mountain just to get "water". Compare to the water that I drink to Binayo's water it is completely different. It upsets me in many ways. We have plenty of water and we should give some of that enormous amount water to those that need it. I don't like the fact that in konso, instead of buying things those people need they use the little amount of money to " Cure the boys of diarrhea caused by bacteria and parasites they reguarly get from the lack of proper hygiene and sanitation and from drinking untreated river water". All that can be solve with water, so why can't or we haven't safe those in need. As for me ama try to be more sustainable with my actions when using water, it's a hard habit that i've been doing ever since I been here. Water Is life.
- JOHNSON BRETE
I use 202 gallons of water per day, 1,414 per week. Some of my classmates use more water than me and some use less water than me. But comparing the amount of gallons that each of use, we all use way more water than Binayo. All New Yorkers use an average of 136 gallons per day and this means that I use more than the average of gallons per day than New Yorkers. People from my home country use less water than me per day because most have to pay for water. My water usage is not sustainable because I use too much water and the way I use it sometimes is not sustainable. Sometimes I let the water run for too much time before taking a shower, same thing when I brush my teeth. Safe access to drinking water should be a right because water maintains us alive and drinking water that is not in a good condition can damage our health. To ensure that all people on earth have enough water we should use water in a sustainable way. We should use a certain amount of water daily. Those places with a good supply of water should donate water or help those places where water is hard to get. I was very impress to see how much water I used weekly. I never thought about how much water we used. What I learned in class these weeks helped me to reduce de amount of water that I used because I realized I wasn’t being sustainable with my water usage.
ReplyDeleteMy impressions from this weeks class is the amount of water I consume per day and in a week compared to other people. Per day I consume 364.9 gallons of water and in a week I consume 2929.5 gallons of water. I consume per day more water than New Yorkers, Binayo and the people from my home country, Ecuador. New Yorkers per day consume 136 gallons of water, Binayo per day consumed a few gallons of water, and the people from Ecuador consume about 18 gallons per day. My water usage is not sustainable because I take advantage of the resources I have today and don’t think about tomorrow. Also I consume a lot of water that I think in some 40 years there won’t be as much of water that there is today and future generations will suffer the consequences. With everything I’ve learn this week I will try my hardest to conserve water even though it is very challenging because I don’t have to go look for water and carry it I have it in my kitchen and bathroom. I will conserve water by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet meanwhile I’m brushing my teeth and washing the plates. We can ensure that all people on Earth have enough water by every single individual putting all their effort to save as much water as he/she can. Also I think safe access to drinking water should be a right because everyone needs it in order to survive.
ReplyDeleteI use more water compared to everyone. At 225 gallons a day is more than Binayo’s “ Aylito Binayo makes do with two and a half gallons” and more than the average New Yorker. It is even more than what I used in Dominican Republic since the most water we had was a paint bucket that would have around 5 gallon of water to shower with every morning. The water used to shover and cook had some quasi-tadpole animals swimming in the water so a strainer or careful handling of the bucket was needed to ensure none of these tadpoles were in the water. My current use of water is not sustainable since I could easily cut down the amount of water that I use every day by switching my shower head to a low flow shower head. While I have some sustainable habits such as brushing my teeth while waiting for my conditioner to set in, we wash dishes by hand and I do not shave. That is saving at least 7 gallons of water.
ReplyDeleteSafe drinking water should be a right only in some circumstances. The Konso villagers live in a mountain when if they could be relocated to another area with more abundant fresh water than just a struggling river. If the people are stubborn and decide not to relocate then it should not be a right. If it is possible to ensure that everyone in Earth is able to drink clean water without creating massive overcrowding in small areas then we should ensure that everyone in Earth has enough water. Water is a scarce resource and if people are not willing to make some sacrifices, relocating or changing their cultural views or habits then these people should not have access to water. This should also be taken into account into overconsumption of water, while having a limit to how much water one should use is infringing on personal rights of the people. Creating water efficient hardware should be given more funding and public facilities and stores should be mandated to only sell water efficient tools. With mandated public education in the United States, teaching children to conserve water should be a task of minor difficulty.
My impression of this weeks class is mainly that it only helped give numbers to previous knowledge. I already knew I used too much water to bathe due to spending half an hour to an hour in one. I knew that there is a shortage of clean water in parts of the world and that sewers and pipes are not used everywhere. This is largely in part to living for 5 years in a second to third world country and from reading articles. I did not know about how many times a hospital in an area affected with a draught is cleaned, “Once a month”. My family is somewhat concerned about water usage although it stems from a childhood of lacking water and having to pay the water bill. I will not use what I learned to influence or change the actions of my community since I do not have one or country since I have no power or drive to do so.
People in the U.S over use water tremendously. In New York City people waste approximately 136 gallons of water per day. In my class period 5 a class of about more or less 17 people and we waste 173 gallons per day. Some people around New York don’t over use water as much, but kids like us tend to waste water with out even knowing it because we always had water provide to us. However, Binayo unlike us has a lack in fresh water and has to limit her use of water everyday. Being able to get water in Binayo’s village is not only a necessity but also a show of respect. Binayo says, “If I sit home and do nothing, nobody likes me. But if I run up and down to get water, they say I’m a clever women and work hard.” These people don’t even have water in the clinics because its so scares, the nurses’ cant disinfect the rooms because they don’t want enough water, that’s extremely dangerous for those people. Yet we don’t worry about these kinds of problems in the world because we always have water available. My personal water use is in between sustainable and over usage because some times I close the drain when I don’t need it to be open, but I always over use when I’m in the shower and that’s normal because people need water in more cases than others. I think that safe water should definitely be a right because people like in Binayo’s village don’t have enough water to even survive and its not fair that we can spoil ourselves whether we know it or not. Being able to have enough water for or growing population is going to be hard but we just need a system that’s equal and allows for us to have water not just for now but for future generations. I have learned so much this week in class it was interesting and I have tried to use less water and stop littering but sometimes I forget so I’m getting there, also I try and get other people to not litter or waste so much water so we can all change little by little.
ReplyDelete-Laddy Duarte P5
My water usage compared to my classmates as a whole I don't use much water but it is still a lot. The whole class uses an average of 243 gallons of water a day, I use 184.32 a day. My water usage is only 58.68 away from the whole class average. That shows how I am sustainable with my water because I use a little more than half of the average water per day the class uses. Although my water usage is unsustainable when compared to all New Yorkers because all New Yorkers only use 136 gallons a day and I use way more than that which means I am over using water. Also my water usage compared to Binayo is very unsustainable because the amount of water I use would be enough to serve their whole village. Compared to other things such as all New Yorkers, my water usage is unsustainable but to me it is sustainable because I don't over use the water, the water I use is necessary. Although I could find better ways to manage my water such as scrubbing all the dishes first then rinsing all of them at once. In Binayo’s village they don't have safe water access, in the US we do have safe water access which is why less people die due to that. Safe water access is very important because since people use water so much it is very likely for people to get sick or possibly die if they don't have safe water access which is what happens in Binayos village. One way we could insure that all people have enough water is place pipe systems that would send water to all the countries of the US. I doubt that I will cut back on the water because there is a high chance that I will forget about that.
ReplyDeleteIn the Socratic Seminar in class, my eyes were opened to how much we squandered water. Not only everyone in general but myself as well. I use approximately 1400 gallons of water a week. Meaning that everyday, I go through about 200 gallons of water. When I first heard this I wasn't shocked until I found out that the average NYer uses about 129 gallons of water each day. this mean that I was way above average. Also my classmates weren't any better. The used water unsparingly as well, with a class average 173 gallons per day and 1304 gallons per week. This was also way above the average. The thin that really left me in a state of awe was that there are women in Africa who travel over 50 miles in both directions just to get water for their families. They use about 2 gallons a day and that's even if they have access to any water. The really sad part is that tis water isn't even clean water. These women have to mostly worry about taking their children to the clinic so that they can get their kids treatment for water viruses. The way us Americans go through water is nowhere near sustainable. Water is a limited resource, yet, we tend to use it like it is infinite. If we continue wasting water like we do, there will not be enough for future generation and that is the meaning of being unsustainable. I myself feel as though clean, fresh, water should be accessible to everyone. People shouldn't have to take daily trips just to get water. I believe that if we use less water that it can eventually become a law that water can and will be equally distributed among countries. The whole idea that I believe will still with me is that I use way too much water when people in many countries around the world are barely surviving on the bare minimum. I fell like e shouldn't take this water we have for granted because one day it might run out and then we will al be in the same situation as Africa. This information has changed how I begin to use water. I will try cut my water usage down from 200 gallons a day to below average at about 100 gallons per day and that will cut my weekly water usage in half to about 700 gallons of water. I will appreciate the water that I have and not waste it.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I take advantage of all the water that is available to me and I pretty much overuse it daily. I use about 218 gallons of water a day, it's sad to just think about it. But I was both glad yet disappointed to see that on average my classmates use about the same amount. It's sadder to say that all Nyers only use about 132 gallons a day. Way less then what me and my classmates use, and it's ridiculous compared to the amount that Binayo and all her people drink. My water usage is definitely not sustainable and I am disappointed to say that and need to find a way to not use as much water. Safe water access should be a right in the whole world so that all people in the world can have good and healthy water available to them when they need it. To ensure that everyone has water when they need it, all rich countries like the U.S. which got a lot of water to spare, should have a few countries that they give water too. And people that live in rich countries like myself and my classmates, should stop using unnecessary water. Now that I understand how much I overuse water , I will try my best to get used to shorter showers, and I will try to not utilize water in any other ways when it's not necessary. I still can't believe we use soooo much water daily.
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