Scripture Reading: Luke 3:3-6
Meditation: When John the Baptist proclaimed the start of Jesus’ ministry, he used his outdoor voice. Do you have an outdoor voice? Can you use it now? Good! Your outdoor voice is needed to share the good news of God’s love! Like John the Baptist, you can use your voice to tell others about the brokenness in the world, and to enlist others to join you in bringing love, compassion and joy to the hurting places.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to be voices for those in our world who face poverty, oppression and injustice. Amen.
Activity:
- Objectives: To gain a greater consciousness of water availability and usage around the world. To promote water conservation in solidarity with those who do not have enough water. To move beyond conservation in sharing our resources wisely.
- Background Information:
- The world is a very big place with lots of people, resources and customs. This means that all over the world, people use the environment in different ways to meet their wants and needs.
- This is a map of the world. It is a “regular” map of land area you can use as a refresher if you haven’t had access to a globe or a map in a while. http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=1
- Now compare the map of the land area to this population map. It shows how many people live where. For example, a large percentage of the world’s population lives in India, so India is shown as much bigger than Australia, which has less people. Australia is bigger in size, but has less people, so it is shown as smaller. http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=2
- We will now look at domestic water use of the world. The countries that are bigger in this map, use more water than those that are smaller. Ideally, the size of a country’s population should be about equal to its domestic water use. (Ideally, this map and the one before would look pretty much the same.) http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=324
- Can you find which countries use the most and the least water?
- Does the amount of domestic water use match the population?
- Compare the populations of the USA and Ethiopia to their domestic water use. What do you find? (In the USA, each person uses more water than people in Ethiopia do.)
- What else can you conclude from looking at these maps?
- Read the quote from below the Domestic Water Use map.
- Can you find which countries use the most and the least water?
- People in the USA and Canada, as well as other richer countries, have easy access to clean water right inside our homes and workplaces. If we have to flush the toilet, wash our clothes or take a shower, we don’t think twice about where the water comes from or if it will be clean.
- There are so many advantages to having clean, accessible water, but there is a downside, too. Often, we forget how important water is and how much we’re using. Our use can become extravagant and unsustainable.
- The world is a very big place with lots of people, resources and customs. This means that all over the world, people use the environment in different ways to meet their wants and needs.
- Activity:
- Think of all of the ways water is used to make your daily life run smoothly. Look beyond the most obvious things like taking showers and cooking. How much water goes into getting some of your favorite foods to your table? What about the amount of water used in growing the cotton for your clothes, manufacturing your goods and powering your home?
- Do some research or take a quiz to figure out your water footprint. (Resources for this are below.) Then, pledge to change some of your habits this week (and beyond) to save water. Every time you take a step to save water, remember those who do not have enough clean water. Offer your water-saving as a prayer for them.
- You may even want to take this activity a step further. Estimate how much money your family will save in a week or month by conserving water, and donate that amount to Water to Thrive. We use donations to help those in need help themselves to build better lives.
- Think of all of the ways water is used to make your daily life run smoothly. Look beyond the most obvious things like taking showers and cooking. How much water goes into getting some of your favorite foods to your table? What about the amount of water used in growing the cotton for your clothes, manufacturing your goods and powering your home?
Water Usage Facts:
- your favorite foods (from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedded-water/)
- 1 pound of beef: 1,799 gallons of water (Grass-fed beef will take much less water than will grain-fed as grain can require a lot of irrigation.)
- 1 pound of pork: 576 gallons of water
- 1 pound of chicken: 468 gallons of water
- 1 gallon of milk: 880 gallons of water
- 1 gallon of coffee: 880 gallons of water
- 1 gallon of tea: 128 gallons of water
- 1 pound of wheat: 132 gallons of water
- 1 pound of rice: 449 gallons of water
- 1 pound of potatoes: 119 gallons of water
- 1 pound of corn: 108 gallons of water
- 1 pound of soybeans: 216 gallons of water
- 1 apple: 18 gallons of water
- 1 orange: 13 gallons of water
- 1 egg: 53 gallons of water
- 1 pound of cheese: 600 gallons of water
- 1 pound of beef: 1,799 gallons of water (Grass-fed beef will take much less water than will grain-fed as grain can require a lot of irrigation.)
- some common energy sources (same source as above)
- natural gas consumes: 0.1 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- coal consumes: 0.15 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- oil consumes: 1.01 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- biomass consumes: 66.57 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- natural gas consumes: 0.1 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- other items (same source as above)
- ½ pound of leather: 1,096 gallons of water
- 1 cotton t-shirt: 713 gallons of water
- 500 sheets of paper: 1,321 gallons of water
- ½ pound of leather: 1,096 gallons of water
- home utility usage (from: http://www.home-water-works.org/indoor-use)
- one flush from an older (about 1980-1994) toilet: about 3.6 gallons of water
- one flush from an ultra-low-flow toilet: about 1.6 gallons of water
- one load of laundry in a standard washer: about 40-45 gallons of water
- one load of laundry in an HE washer: about 14-25 gallons of water
- pre-1980 showerhead: about 5+ gallons per minute
- average showerhead now: about 2.5 gallons per minute
- old dishwasher: about 10-15 gallons of water per load
- Energystar dishwasher: about 5.5 gallons per load
- one flush from an older (about 1980-1994) toilet: about 3.6 gallons of water
Scripture Reading: Luke 3:3-6
Meditation: When John the Baptist proclaimed the start of Jesus’ ministry, he used his outdoor voice. Do you have an outdoor voice? Can you use it now? Good! Your outdoor voice is needed to share the good news of God’s love! Like John the Baptist, you can use your voice to tell others about the brokenness in the world, and to enlist others to join you in bringing love, compassion and joy to the hurting places.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to be voices for those in our world who face poverty, oppression and injustice. Amen.
Activity:
- Objectives: To gain a greater consciousness of water availability and usage around the world. To promote water conservation in solidarity with those who do not have enough water. To move beyond conservation in sharing our resources wisely.
- Background Information:
- The world is a very big place with lots of people, resources and customs. This means that all over the world, people use the environment in different ways to meet their wants and needs.
- This is a map of the world. It is a “regular” map of land area you can use as a refresher if you haven’t had access to a globe or a map in a while. http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=1
- Now compare the map of the land area to this population map. It shows how many people live where. For example, a large percentage of the world’s population lives in India, so India is shown as much bigger than Australia, which has less people. Australia is bigger in size, but has less people, so it is shown as smaller. http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=2
- We will now look at domestic water use of the world. The countries that are bigger in this map, use more water than those that are smaller. Ideally, the size of a country’s population should be about equal to its domestic water use. (Ideally, this map and the one before would look pretty much the same.) http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=324
- Can you find which countries use the most and the least water?
- Does the amount of domestic water use match the population?
- Compare the populations of the USA and Ethiopia to their domestic water use. What do you find? (In the USA, each person uses more water than people in Ethiopia do.)
- What else can you conclude from looking at these maps?
- Read the quote from below the Domestic Water Use map.
- Can you find which countries use the most and the least water?
- People in the USA and Canada, as well as other richer countries, have easy access to clean water right inside our homes and workplaces. If we have to flush the toilet, wash our clothes or take a shower, we don’t think twice about where the water comes from or if it will be clean.
- There are so many advantages to having clean, accessible water, but there is a downside, too. Often, we forget how important water is and how much we’re using. Our use can become extravagant and unsustainable.
- The world is a very big place with lots of people, resources and customs. This means that all over the world, people use the environment in different ways to meet their wants and needs.
- Activity:
- Think of all of the ways water is used to make your daily life run smoothly. Look beyond the most obvious things like taking showers and cooking. How much water goes into getting some of your favorite foods to your table? What about the amount of water used in growing the cotton for your clothes, manufacturing your goods and powering your home?
- Do some research or take a quiz to figure out your water footprint. (Resources for this are below.) Then, pledge to change some of your habits this week (and beyond) to save water. Every time you take a step to save water, remember those who do not have enough clean water. Offer your water-saving as a prayer for them.
- You may even want to take this activity a step further. Estimate how much money your family will save in a week or month by conserving water, and donate that amount to Water to Thrive. We use donations to help those in need help themselves to build better lives.
- Think of all of the ways water is used to make your daily life run smoothly. Look beyond the most obvious things like taking showers and cooking. How much water goes into getting some of your favorite foods to your table? What about the amount of water used in growing the cotton for your clothes, manufacturing your goods and powering your home?
Water Usage Facts:
- your favorite foods (from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedded-water/)
- 1 pound of beef: 1,799 gallons of water (Grass-fed beef will take much less water than will grain-fed as grain can require a lot of irrigation.)
- 1 pound of pork: 576 gallons of water
- 1 pound of chicken: 468 gallons of water
- 1 gallon of milk: 880 gallons of water
- 1 gallon of coffee: 880 gallons of water
- 1 gallon of tea: 128 gallons of water
- 1 pound of wheat: 132 gallons of water
- 1 pound of rice: 449 gallons of water
- 1 pound of potatoes: 119 gallons of water
- 1 pound of corn: 108 gallons of water
- 1 pound of soybeans: 216 gallons of water
- 1 apple: 18 gallons of water
- 1 orange: 13 gallons of water
- 1 egg: 53 gallons of water
- 1 pound of cheese: 600 gallons of water
- 1 pound of beef: 1,799 gallons of water (Grass-fed beef will take much less water than will grain-fed as grain can require a lot of irrigation.)
- some common energy sources (same source as above)
- natural gas consumes: 0.1 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- coal consumes: 0.15 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- oil consumes: 1.01 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- biomass consumes: 66.57 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- natural gas consumes: 0.1 gallons of water per kilowatt hour
- other items (same source as above)
- ½ pound of leather: 1,096 gallons of water
- 1 cotton t-shirt: 713 gallons of water
- 500 sheets of paper: 1,321 gallons of water
- ½ pound of leather: 1,096 gallons of water
- home utility usage (from: http://www.home-water-works.org/indoor-use)
- one flush from an older (about 1980-1994) toilet: about 3.6 gallons of water
- one flush from an ultra-low-flow toilet: about 1.6 gallons of water
- one load of laundry in a standard washer: about 40-45 gallons of water
- one load of laundry in an HE washer: about 14-25 gallons of water
- pre-1980 showerhead: about 5+ gallons per minute
- average showerhead now: about 2.5 gallons per minute
- old dishwasher: about 10-15 gallons of water per load
- Energystar dishwasher: about 5.5 gallons per load
- one flush from an older (about 1980-1994) toilet: about 3.6 gallons of water
About The Author: Meredith
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