The Other Footprint

393010542_91f5e1b495 No doubt you have all encountered the term “carbon footprint” and been asked to fill out surveys, questionnaire’s and quizzes to determine just how much you have befouled our planet’s atmosphere. Well not surprisingly there is more than just one environmental “footprint” that has to be monitored and cared for.

And while the mark we leave upon the environment by adding to it, through our increased carbon emissions, is increasingly important and, sadly, dire, what we take away from the environment is just as crucial.

So thanks to KeepGreenGoing, “a blog developed for anyone who wants to become more environmentally friendly,” I was pointed to the “individual water footprint” calculator at WaterFootprint.org.

Similar to the carbon footprint, ones water footprint is made up of the water that is required to produce the goods and services that one consumes. The calculator asks you to measure statistics such as how much cereal or meat you use, how many cups of coffee or tea you have per day, how many showers you have each day, and many more.

How much meat you use may seem like an incongruous question to ask though, when you’re dealing with water. Sure there is the water that the cows or chickens drink, but beyond that…? Well according to the stats, a kilogram of beef requires 16,000 liters of water, whereas to produce 1 cup of coffee, 140 liters of water is needed.

So head along to WaterFootPrint.org to take your own water footprint test, and see how much water you are taking away from the planet.

credit: PoppyW at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

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