Barry’s Ecological Sustainability Team (BEST) is excited to announce a new Eco-Tip theme to bring attention to environmental issues of our day and to let members of Barry University know how they can help reduce the human impact on our ecological community. Each Eco-Tip theme will showcase consequences of human behaviors on the Earth as well as what Barry University is doing to help us live more symbiotically with our natural environment. Together we can become more sustainable and preserve and protect the Earth for all, especially future generations and other members of our natural community who cannot speak for themselves. The second Eco-Tips is water conservation and protection.
The tips will appear on BUCWIS and Barry University's homepage. You may subscribe to receive the Eco-Tip of the week in your inbox. Alternatively, an Eco-Tip button on BUCWIS and Student Web, will link you to any Eco-Tips you may have missed.
- 1. Did you know:
- If you fill a plastic water bottle ¼ of the way full with oil—this is how much oil is required to make the typical bottle of water. Adding up the plastic used, the numbers are staggering: the energy required to collect and clean the water, and the fuel it takes to ship the bottles to stores, equates to millions of barrels of oil each year (Sierra Club).
http://greenfaith.org/getting-started/individuals-households/easy-action-steps-1/water-conservation - While it may be convenient to grab a bottle of water from the cooler or fridge, it’s also expensive: bottled water costs more per gallon than gasoline. Supplying Americans with the plastic bottles alone consumes more than 17 million barrels of oil – enough to fuel 1 million cars for a year. That doesn't include the fuel and expense of shipping (water is heavy). Additionally, almost 90 percent of the bottles end up in the landfill or as litter after just one use.
http://earthleaders.org/~earthlea/files/3913/4099/9766/Bottled_Water.pdf - The National Geographic environmental “Change the Course” website has an interactive water footprint calculator, allowing you to input your zip code and get an idea of how much water you use in your everyday life, and how much it affects freshwater ecosystems: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/change-the-course/water-footprint-calculator/
2. Advantages of reusing your own water bottle:
- Save costs of bottled water
- Save energy
- Lower exhaust emissions from transportation
- Save our landfills
3. Barry’s Actions to Conserve Water:
- In 2009, the law campus outfitted all faucets with aerators—this reduces water flow while maintaining water pressure; later liquid soap was replaced with foam soap to reduce hand-washing time. The new law school building was built in accordance with a green design to meet LEED Silver standards and incorporates low volume urinals and toilets to reduce water simply flushed away.
- In April 2013, Barry University School of Law installed a new Elkay EZH2O bottle filling station in its cafeteria, which uses a sensor to automatically fill or refill water bottles three times faster than a regular drinking fountain. As of May 17, 2013, the EZH2O machine has registered 835 uses, meaning it has kept 835 plastic bottles out of landfills.
http://www.elkayusa.com/cps/rde/xchg/elkay/hs.xsl/ezh2o.aspx