Further Reading

In her new book, Elizabeth Royte tells the story of how bottled water became the drink of choice for America. Bottlemania explains how a country with excellent, free, public tap water was persuaded to buy water in plastic bottles. Anyone who feels good about recycling their plastic water bottle will learn that they’re bottle is actually “downcycled” into other materials that are then thrown out. Bottlemania explores how water has become business and the effects this is having on a global scale. So sorry Aquapodmoms, even if I am fooled by the 6-8 glasses wives’ tale, I’ll still be using my sweet metal water bottle filled with FREE tap water.

The Colorado River peters out just before reaching the Gulf of California. The water is diverted to fuel agriculture and the breakneck growth of the arid southwest. While many Midwesterners have moved to Arizona and New Mexico in the last few years, folks fleeing the cold weather and poor Midwest economy won’t be taking the Great Lakes with them. A coalition of Great Lakes states including Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and New York have agreed to the Great Lakes Basin Compact in order to conserve this non-renewable resource. The compact will still have to pass muster in Congress where regional special interests representing dryer states might balk.

Listen to the full story on NPR.

Last Sunday, Roz Savage rowed under the Golden Gate Bridge, attempting to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean from the US to Australia. Roz has previously rowed across the Atlantic on her own, breaking 4 oars on the way. A former corporate cog, Roz has made it her life’s work to seek adventure on the high seas while raising environmental awareness. She is definitely one teched out and well-loved rower, reportedly recieving 5 ipods chocked full of books and music as gifts. Her boat is equipped with solar panels so she is making updates on Twitter and posting videos to her blog, where you can also track her progress. Check out this short documentary that tells her story.

We’ve been singing the praises of Ashkon’s Hottubbin’ song since we heard it months back on Jesse, Jordan GO! Since the video went up on Youtube, its gone totally viral. He’s got a new mix tape out that includes Hottubbin’ and a powerful remake of Soulja Boy’s bizarre song Crank That, entitled strangely enough Soldier Boy. If you still haven’t heard Hottubbin’, then what are you waiting for:

In this episode, the Green Rapper heads to Redwood Creek in Marin County to talk water quality with Doug Kern. Doug is a scientist and teacher who is involved with restoration of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Doug shows us how to collect critical data about this precious resource. Find out how clean your tap water is compared with filtered water and water from a creek. Also, the Green Rapper finally gets confronted on his bathroom manners and then freestyles about it.

Here are the results of our water quality monitoring:

This video was shot in 2007 during various trips to National Parks on the West Coast. After hearing the buzzword “Watershed Event” thrown around in the political arena, we put this song and video together to shed light on environmental issues and personal responsibility. This was put together before Greenrapper.com had come about, and is slightly political, but if you’ve gotten this far, you probably won’t be offended.

As a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, I used to take bucket baths and pour a bucket of water into the toilet to flush in lieu of running water. I had to chase down cistern trucks just like everyone else and then carry buckets of water indoors. Various government aqueduct projects came and went, and after two years passed, I really wanted to do something about the problem. Though I had neither the resources nor the time to build an aqueduct, I was able to borrow a video camera from a fellow volunteer and shoot a documentary to raise awareness.

My goal was to spread word about the precarious water situation in the community where I lived. After returning to the states, I edited the documentary, sent it around, and posted it to Google Video. Later, a friend of mine in Oviedo, D.R informed me that the water situation had improved. I don’t believe my documentary had much effect, but it was screened at several film festivals and perhaps helped some Americans become aware of their water use. Here is the video: