You are seeing the headlines correctly except for the Sasquatch part which was a poor attempt at trying to draw attention to this article! In newspaper land, like I know anything about that, was a headline grabber! But if Sasquatch happens to drink and waste water, I have perhaps inadvertently made him an unintended target of the water police! No, really, the UN and some of its many tree hugging friends are on another jaunt to somehow save the Earth by decreasing the amount of water it takes to raise a pound of beef or chicken!
According to this discovered report directly from Rio, it will take 2500 liters for a fried chicken to be raised till consumption! Even more for a pound of wheat or beef!
Somebody and I am assuming there is one tired minion out there in United Nations land diligently monitoring every activity of that poor ole chicken throughout it’s life till it’s demise and somehow calculating every drop of water that goes into making that chicken into food and applying a formula to all eatable creatures!
After all, isn’t water one of those natural resources that doesnt go away? Now, if I’m totally off base here and I’m sure someone could give the answer that I am looking for! Water comes down from the sky in the form of rain or was already here in abundant supply! That is a given in the US! Maybe a little different in a subsaharan desert, but we must worry about the US of A.
The rain or water is consumed in many ways! At some point or another in light of how you get around to doing it, it will be returned someday or another, somehow or someway! If it evaporates, doesn’t it get trapped and sent back down to us, then we eliminate and back up again? Ok, oversimplified! Right? Or am I completely wrong here? I can hear the purists scoff at my silliness, that’s ok cause I laugh at them too! Wait a minute! If I laugh am I not emitting water vapor along with CO2? Oooh my, I’m gonna have a carbon and a water footprint fine applied to my laugh!
Seriously though, I think if we get a water footprint applied to all our functions, that could mean more regulation, which leads to more taxes and fines levied against heavy water users, or pool owners, chicken farmers, produce farmers, cattle farmers and rafting companies? Think about it? If we use water we can theoretically get fined by the UN! Im getting a headache! I must hit the sack! Enjoy the rest of the article live from the Earth Summit 2012!
Malaysia: Fried chicken? That’ll be 2,500 litres please
29 Mar 2012
Do you know how much water goes into producing the food you eat? For the first time in Malaysia, a water footprint of favourite Malaysian dishes answers just that question.
In conjunction with World Water Day on 22 March, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA), a Consumers International (CI) member, gathered this data to educate consumers on the effects of their diet on water sources and food production.
A ‘water footprint’ was used to calculate how much water is used in the production of food from the farm to the table. The results might just surprise you. To produce just a serving of fried chicken for one, 2485.2 litres of waters is needed. For a cup of black coffee, you need 150.5 litres and for a plate of fried rice, 937.5 litres.
The theme for this year’s World Water Day 2012 is “Water and Food Security – The World is Thirsty because We are Hungry.”
There are over 7 billion people worldwide to feed today with another 2 billion expected to join by 2050. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates there were 925 million hungry people in 2010. At the same time, people are also wasting food.
According to FAO, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food produced annually in the world for human consumption every year gets lost or wasted. All this leads to water loss.
A 50% reduction in food waste at the global level would save 1,350km³ of water.
Diets are shifting with rapid urbanisation and increasing incomes. Meat consumption is expected to rise from 37 kg per person per year in 1999/2001 to 52 kg in 2050. It takes about 1500 litres of water to produce 1 kg of wheat but it takes 10 times more to produce 1 kg of beef.
FOMCA President Datuk Marimuthu Nadason said:
“People need to understand that there is no creation of ‘new’ water on the planet. Water is only recycled through a sophisticated natural system called the hydrological cycle. The only thing that is new is the exponential population growth that is taxing the current available supply. Maximising yield for each unit of water must be given priority.”
The need for action
FOMCA presented a memorandum to the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry; Ministry of Plantation Industries; Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water; and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment calling for the prioritisation of Malaysia’s sustainable development through water and food security.
Among the recommendations listed were for a clear policy guideline and management tool to tackle water resources problems effectively and a water foot print labelling scheme to promote consumer awareness on the impact of their diet on water resources.
Bradley County News Network 