What Is Your Water Footprint?
For most of us, we are becoming more aware of our carbon footprint, but do you have any idea how much WATER is required for the production of the food you eat? The Virtual Water Project , executed by German designer Timm Kekeritz, is making sure that you do. Kekeritz graphically represents the concept of Virtual Water on a double-sided poster that uses silhouettes and typography to show the relationships between fresh water consumption and food production. What is your Water Footprint?
Waterfootprint.org, a collaboration between the University of Twente and the UNESCO IHE Institute for Water Education, defines virtual water as the “volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured at the place where the product was actually produced” or the “sum of the water used in the various steps of the production chain”, and water footprint represents the “total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.”
For example: the production of 2 pounds of beef requires 3,500 gallons of water, and to produce 1 cup of coffee we need 37 gallons of water.
The water footprint for the USA is 3,270 cubic yards per year per capita compared to China’s water footprint of 915 cubic yards per year per capita. We are definately wasting more than just carbon.
The main intention of Kekeritz’s poster is to inspire people to rethink their consumption patterns. His visualization of nation’s footprints tries to reveal the big picture of local problems in different parts of the world.
You can purchase this poster at Timm’s site The Virtual Water Project and learn more about virtual water at Waterfootprint.org.
Calculate your individual water footprint
Via: Ecolect
