 Photo: Tanya Puntti, Flickr Creative Commons |
We’ve all been watching the sad drama unfold in the waters along the Gulf coast for the past six weeks. Many people have expressed feeling hopeless and helpless. You may not be able to hop on a plane and head to Louisiana, but one Canadian action network has a short-term agua-related step you can take: Stop and think about water for one solid hour on June 11 at 8 p.m. your time.
Ecologos, the Ontario-based organization planning the aptly named WaterHour, doesn’t specify how to celebrate the wet stuff, something that makes up about two-thirds of an adult male’s body (55 percent of an adult female’s body) and covers 70 percent of the Earth. In fact, the group wants ideas—and you can win a really beautiful picture from photographer James Phillips for submitting yours.
Here are the top five most popular so far (with some slight tweaking so they apply to Canadians and non-Canadians alike):
1. Show off your best images of water on Facebook, Flickr, and any other social networking site you can think of.
2. Walk along your favorite body of water and even take a dip—if it’s permitted.
3. Discuss with friends a time in your life when water played an important part. You may be surprised how prevalent it is.
4. Register for or attend a summit or conference that can help shape water policy.
5. Install a rainwater barrel. Like the name suggests, these collect runoff from rain, which you can then use to water your lawn or wash your car. Get creative.
If none of these sounds appealing, come up with your own way to celebrate. So far, more than 2,700 people plan to participate in WaterHour. According to Ecologos, one drop of oil can ruin almost seven gallons of water. What better time to think about how to protect our water than when hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil are polluting it everyday.