As usual, I'm late to the party, as the hubbub now seems to be dying down a bit, but the ALS ice bucket challenge certainly did get people talking about a lot of stuff. If you could call it talking. It seems to be par for the course on social media these days that people criticize things without mercy and others dig their heels in to defend it. Usually it involves some level of name calling and insulting each other's humanity from both sides. Ah, but I digress...
One of the many issues raised with the challenge was the wasting of water. Now, water is a serious issue in the world. According to Water for the World, 1.8 billion people still lack access to fresh water supply. They have some other really powerful statistics over on their website. Water is essential for life, and the lack of clean supply is a truly significant issue.
But, let's talk about water for just a moment for those who were railing on the ALS challenge for this particular reason (I am not in any way intending to address the overall value of the challenge or its other criticisms).
Living in a country where the water issues are part of the daily reality, I'd like to just mention a few of the things of what that looks like for us.
* We have a water filter in our kitchen. It only filters (there is a reserve tank for the filtered water) when the electricity is on, which is currently about 17 hours per day but can get down as low as 8 hours per day, mostly at night. Drinking water from the tap is directly asking to spend several days tied to the bathroom, at the very least. We have to be very vigilant at making sure dishes and cups are dry before using them, and it can be a real challenge getting little ones not to get the water in their mouths at bath time.
* We have a ground tank and a tank on our roof. The roof tank is the one that feeds into the plumbing in the house. Again, we can only pump up to the roof from the ground tank when the power is on. Once the ground tank is empty, that's it. We get a trickle of water daily from the city for an hour, but it doesn't amount to all that much. When the water is gone, we have to call a water truck to come and fill the tank again, and with delays, we have had several occasions where we don't have water to use for a day or so.
* We collect our shower water and scoop up the boys' bath water in buckets to reuse it for flushing the toilets. Most of our friends also collect the water from their washing machines, but ours is positioned rather awkwardly to do that.
Now, every time I start to feel a slight bit cool about how careful we are with water and the extra effort we have to make with it, I am reminded how massively privileged we (my family) are here! This is far better than the reality for the majority here (and in tons of other places) who don't have any water in the house at all, let alone clean or filtered water!!!
That all seems like I'm pointing back to why people should be upset about the ice bucket challenge, and yet, I'd like to sort of call out those who are fuming about the water issue with the challenge.
I've seen way more water used for far less noble causes. I see photos of people's kids running through sprinklers and playing with water tables (which I am not suggesting are bad but certainly non-essential). Quite a large percentage of parents in America use a bath as part of a daily routine for their pre-puberty kiddos. (If you're one of those, please don't smell my kids too closely!) I would say most Americans shower every day, or at least every other day. (And, a moment of confession, this has been one of mine that I've had a terribly hard time giving up! In the winter I try to stretch to every other day, but this is my personal weakness!) I almost guarantee your daily shower wastes more than one bucket of water! Know how I know? Remember the aforementioned shower-collecting buckets? With shutting the water off every time I am shampooing or lathering or whatever doesn't directly require water, my shower still uses about 3/4 of an average-sized bucket.
I'm certainly not as hardcore about the water stuff as I wish I was, and many of the critics may do a ton to really help the water crises around the world!
If you are one of the super vocal critics of the water use of the ice bucket challenge and you are doing the following things:
* Reusing any gray water (from showers, laundry, etc.)
* Turning off the water in between shower steps
* Rationing your water for recreational use (this includes your lawn!)
* Wearing clothes multiple times before washing
And, in the bigger picture (as residential water use is actually only a small percentage of the problem):
* Avoiding major companies with egregious water waste, pollution, and/or exploitation
(Don't even get me started on Nestle! They make everything, and they are a company known for exploitative issues in this and other arenas!)
* Donating significantly to organizations doing REAL work (not just griping at people) to help with water solutions for those who need it most
...If you're doing all of those things and more, then by all means, call people out for dumping one bucket of water, but maybe include a bit of positive direction on how people can be part of the solution. Or, if you are that conscientious, and that is your only issue with the challenge, donate the money and skip the ice water, like my cousin's husband who had his son dump a bucket of cash on his dad's head for their video...or, even donate the full amount associated with skipping the challenge to a cause you are passionate about, like those doing the real work for clean water. Heck, do it even if you weren't "nominated." Just don't sit back and feel like you've done something noble for the truly significant water issues in our world by criticizing people for dumping one bucket of water to raise money and awareness for a charity.
One of the many issues raised with the challenge was the wasting of water. Now, water is a serious issue in the world. According to Water for the World, 1.8 billion people still lack access to fresh water supply. They have some other really powerful statistics over on their website. Water is essential for life, and the lack of clean supply is a truly significant issue.
But, let's talk about water for just a moment for those who were railing on the ALS challenge for this particular reason (I am not in any way intending to address the overall value of the challenge or its other criticisms).
Living in a country where the water issues are part of the daily reality, I'd like to just mention a few of the things of what that looks like for us.
* We have a water filter in our kitchen. It only filters (there is a reserve tank for the filtered water) when the electricity is on, which is currently about 17 hours per day but can get down as low as 8 hours per day, mostly at night. Drinking water from the tap is directly asking to spend several days tied to the bathroom, at the very least. We have to be very vigilant at making sure dishes and cups are dry before using them, and it can be a real challenge getting little ones not to get the water in their mouths at bath time.
* We have a ground tank and a tank on our roof. The roof tank is the one that feeds into the plumbing in the house. Again, we can only pump up to the roof from the ground tank when the power is on. Once the ground tank is empty, that's it. We get a trickle of water daily from the city for an hour, but it doesn't amount to all that much. When the water is gone, we have to call a water truck to come and fill the tank again, and with delays, we have had several occasions where we don't have water to use for a day or so.
* We collect our shower water and scoop up the boys' bath water in buckets to reuse it for flushing the toilets. Most of our friends also collect the water from their washing machines, but ours is positioned rather awkwardly to do that.
Now, every time I start to feel a slight bit cool about how careful we are with water and the extra effort we have to make with it, I am reminded how massively privileged we (my family) are here! This is far better than the reality for the majority here (and in tons of other places) who don't have any water in the house at all, let alone clean or filtered water!!!
That all seems like I'm pointing back to why people should be upset about the ice bucket challenge, and yet, I'd like to sort of call out those who are fuming about the water issue with the challenge.
I've seen way more water used for far less noble causes. I see photos of people's kids running through sprinklers and playing with water tables (which I am not suggesting are bad but certainly non-essential). Quite a large percentage of parents in America use a bath as part of a daily routine for their pre-puberty kiddos. (If you're one of those, please don't smell my kids too closely!) I would say most Americans shower every day, or at least every other day. (And, a moment of confession, this has been one of mine that I've had a terribly hard time giving up! In the winter I try to stretch to every other day, but this is my personal weakness!) I almost guarantee your daily shower wastes more than one bucket of water! Know how I know? Remember the aforementioned shower-collecting buckets? With shutting the water off every time I am shampooing or lathering or whatever doesn't directly require water, my shower still uses about 3/4 of an average-sized bucket.
I'm certainly not as hardcore about the water stuff as I wish I was, and many of the critics may do a ton to really help the water crises around the world!
If you are one of the super vocal critics of the water use of the ice bucket challenge and you are doing the following things:
* Reusing any gray water (from showers, laundry, etc.)
* Turning off the water in between shower steps
* Rationing your water for recreational use (this includes your lawn!)
* Wearing clothes multiple times before washing
And, in the bigger picture (as residential water use is actually only a small percentage of the problem):
* Avoiding major companies with egregious water waste, pollution, and/or exploitation
(Don't even get me started on Nestle! They make everything, and they are a company known for exploitative issues in this and other arenas!)
* Donating significantly to organizations doing REAL work (not just griping at people) to help with water solutions for those who need it most
...If you're doing all of those things and more, then by all means, call people out for dumping one bucket of water, but maybe include a bit of positive direction on how people can be part of the solution. Or, if you are that conscientious, and that is your only issue with the challenge, donate the money and skip the ice water, like my cousin's husband who had his son dump a bucket of cash on his dad's head for their video...or, even donate the full amount associated with skipping the challenge to a cause you are passionate about, like those doing the real work for clean water. Heck, do it even if you weren't "nominated." Just don't sit back and feel like you've done something noble for the truly significant water issues in our world by criticizing people for dumping one bucket of water to raise money and awareness for a charity.
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