bottled water

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"So drinking bottled water is like giving my car a blowjob?"

The question above, posed by copyranter in the title of an article panning Brita's new advertising campaign, got our attention. Brita's approach may be crude, (no pun intended), but such reactions will certainly contribute to achieving Brita's goal. More clicks. More people aware that

"Last year 16 million gallons of oil were consumed to make plastic water bottles."

More people visiting Brita's filter for good pledge site, where Brita claims over 74 million plastic water bottles will be avoided by users of the Brita water filter system who have made the pledge to switch from bottles to Brita.

Drawbacks of Water Filters
Water filters like Brita and Pur may get panned for not removing every possible contaminant, or for the disposable filters and appliance waste generated, which is probably not necessary in light of the fact that tap water quality in most developed nations is excellent. And Brita has certainly been beaten up for advertisements which suggest that tap water quality is questionable just because we are foolish enough to flush our toilets with perfectly good drinking water.

Ditch Bottled Water
But many TreeHuggers are committing to ditch bottled water. For some, the taste or quality of their tap water needs a little help. An in-line water filter, installed centrally or at the tap, is considered to be less wasteful due to the infrequent change-outs of the filter media. For apartment dwellers and those who cannot install fixed filter systems, the jug filters like Brita or Pur are a reasonable alternative. It certainly beats buying water in bottles.

Flooded London: Maps and Visuals

Scene of the movie "The Flood" (2007) by Tony Mitchell

What would London look like if sea levels rose further? There are a numer of maps in the web which let you imagine in what extent different areas of London would/will be affected by the flood. Not all maps show the scenario of the Thames Barrier breaking and releasing tidal waters to the city centre which would have an even more dramatic impact.

Maps:

Environment Agency Flood Map
Type in your postcode and see if you were affected by the flood. 

A Google Maps Overlay


Global Warming Art Sea Level Explorer 

Tap Project

This project call 'Tap project' by UNICEF. The water vending machine was installed in Manhattan, US and the project is to help African who suffer from dirty water and other disease such as malaria and cholera. The water is really dirty water so never drinking. It just donate programme and to raise awareness of clean water importance.

Working for Cleaner Beaches

How we're improving and and protecting our bathing waters.

Thames21

Thames21 is an environmental charity working with communities to bring London's waterways to life. Thames21 mobilise thousands of volunteers every year to clean up waterside grot-spots, remove graffiti and create new habitats for wildlife. Thames21 aim to transform neglected and littered waterways into areas that everyone can use and enjoy by encouraging all Londoners to treat their waterways with care and respect.

Video : The River Cleaners
Website : Thames21

Rainwater Harvesting System

Rainwater harvesting is surely one of the most effective ways to cope with problems regarding water such as the lack of water, reducing the impact on the environment, saving money, mitigating flood, and so on. It allows to reduce water bill by up to 50%, which is used to replace mains water in non-potable applicants like toliet, washing machine, irriation, vehicle washing.

This is public interest advertising regarding rainwater harvesting by the Centre for Science and Environment in India.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWnhYIIKY0U

I am going to study on Rainwater Harvesting System and would like to produce design works that encourage people to be interested in it.

F2H: Flood Harnessing Housing

The concept of harvesting energt from river waves to power.
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about water pollution

case study - water

LifeStraw is a great examplethat there are poor nations in many continents, especially in Africa. The people are fighting from waterborne disease, and more than 6,000 people, mainly children die each day by cosuming unsafe drinking water.
LifeStraw is an instrument which instantly purifies the water and make it ready to drink. A single personal LifeStraw can process 700 liters of water in a year and usage life is 3 years.
It could be a great sybol for developing Africa and actually aid concerts could be made to provide these life saving gadgets for families to people who need.
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Most poor nations do not have water supply facilities, the lack of environment infrastructure is major obstacle to their development. Especially in rural Africa, the people have to carry water to use buckets and unfortunatly, have to go so far away by walk. Moreover, water in adequate quantities is too heavy to carry.
The Hippo Roller is a heavy-duty plastic drum that can be filled upright, then sealed and rolled like a steamroller across rough terrain. the 90 liters thank weight 200 pounds when full, but the rolling drum has a functional weight of just 22 pounds, so actually anyone can use it.
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