Water Blog

As I was surfing through Google images for the right picture of water this was the only one that stuck out in my mind. Not that a ripple effect in a pond or a slow-mo of a water droplet wasn't cool, but this picture captured the essence of "the feelings about water". I feel far to often do we take water for granted and never think on a grand scale of water. I agree wholeheartedly with that statement and my results from my water footprint certainly support it.

For the first test these were my results

                    Mine                  Average
Diet              87                       100
Energy         544                      700
Stuff            279                      232
All              1677                    2088


Although my results were below average almost all categories there is still one that was above average and it bothers me. The fact that my "stuff" category is well above the average nudges at my conscience. I am guilty of being a shopoholic and I buy countless pairs of shoes and cases of water. I have a personal conviction to take my spending into more consideration of the water footprint I am leaving.

When looking at averages for water footprints I was quite surprised at the percentages of the footprints outside of the country.

My footprint: 1398 m3/yr
Global Average: 1385 m3/yr per capita
United States of America: 2842 m3/yr per capita with 20.2% of that footprint outside of the country
Saudi Arabia: 1849 m3/yr per capita with 66.1% of that footprint outside of the country
Yemen: 901 m3/yr per capita with 75.7% of that footprint outside of the country
Qatar: no data
Bahrain: no data
Kuwait: 2072 m3/yr per capita with 89.5% of that footprint outside of the country
United Arab Emirates: 2842 m3/yr per capita with 20.2% of that footprint outside of the country

I am glad that my foot print is lower than the average of the U.S.A. and only slightly above the global average. However I found the percentages astounding with how much of the countries footprint in my region lies outside of their country. This has potential for dire consequences when looking for the realist perspective. These countries are very dependent on the outside world. This could create more instability in the region then is already present. I have hopes that reciprocity will win out though and countries can use this resource that everyone needs as a way to create a world peace and order.