World Water Day observed across the globe.
With experts increasingly aware of a looming shortage, this year’s theme of the United Nations’- sponsored event was “Clean Water for a Healthy World.”

Held on March 22, participants worldwide gathered to raise awareness and call for action in protecting both quality and quantities of the precious resource.

As acknowledged by many environmentalists, addressing the massive consumption and pollution of both the meat and dairy industries could effectively eliminate the Earth’s water crises, as this farmer in California, USA shares.

Grape farmer located near dairy factory farms, California, USA (M): The ones that have been doing all these nuts, grapes, vegetables, fruits; we’ve been doing that for the last hundred years. We had a lot of water. The central valley of California feeds America, and also other countries. Ever since the dairy moved in, the water level in my well went dry.

My neighbors’ well went dry. One, two, three, four of our wells are dry. Our water level was really high before. Now our water level is so low, the farmers that are doing all the vegetable and fruits are hurting for water, because we got the dairy here.

VOICE: The United Nations Environment Program also held a three-day event in Nairobi, Kenya, where policy makers and scientist participants released a report revealing that more lives are lost to contaminated water than to wars or other conflicts.

In fact, every 20 seconds, one child less than age 5 succumbs to water-related disease. Highlighting once again a livestock-based source of the majority of the world’s water problems was Mr. Rick Dove of Waterkeepers Alliance in North Carolina, USA.  

Rick Dove – Southeastern representative for Waterkeeper Alliance (M): In eastern North Carolina there are about ten million hogs producing more fecal waste each and every day than all the people in the states of North Carolina, California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Dakota combined.

On some of our rivers like the Neuse, we’ve lost over a billion fish, dead fish since 1991, and just this year we’ve lost about 200 million on the Neuse River.

VOICE: We thank Mr. Rick Dove and all the concerned participants of World Water Day 2010 for helping raise awareness of our need to preserve this life-giving resource.

As more and more people awaken to the link between water scarcity and livestock, may we soon herald a meat-free world of lush abundance for all. 

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often addressed the need for action to reverse these planet-wide tolls, as during an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand.


http://www.fastcompany.com/1593806/world-water-day
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-deane/reflecting-on-world-water_b_508036.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/0322/World-Water-Day-Dirty-water-kills-more-people-
than-violence-says-UN
http://yubanet.com/world/World-Water-Day-2010-Highlights-Solutions-and-Calls-for-Action-to-Improve-Water-
Quality-Worldwide.php


US company to produce ‘smart glass.’
Through a combination of tax incentives and guaranteed loans, Minnesota-based Sage Electronics, Inc. has been awarded over US$100 million by the US government to produce energy-saving glass.
This innovative product, which requires only the press of a button to be switched from clear to darkly tinted and back again, could reduce the energy use of buildings by nearly a third.

Construction of the 250,000-square-foot manufacturing plant is planned for this summer and will initially employ 160 people in the green manufacturing and technology sector.

A big hats off, Sage Electronics, and many thanks US government for your support of this energy-saving innovation! We can’t wait to see more of such technologies that save energy and assist in our goal of sustainable lives.

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/03/05/clever-glass-maker-wins-72-million-loan-guarantee-from-nobel-
prizewinning-chus-doe/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/sage-electrochromics-electronically-tinted-glass-energy-efficient-
buildings.php

Extra News
For the first time since the UK-based event began in 1969, flowers have not bloomed in time for the annual Daffodil Festival in Triplow.  
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/7456054/Coldest-winter-in-30-years-hits-daffodil-festival.html

 Over 400 workers are digging wells in an effort to ensure adequate water for over 50 million people in southwest China as the region continues to experience its worst drought in 100 years.  
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6924827.html
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/30-china-says-drought-
now-affecting-50-mln-people-so-04


In a recent report on the destructive practice of mountaintop mining, US scientists state that the impacts on water quality and biodiversity over time are not only damaging but could be irreversible.
http://www.thisdishisvegetarian.com/2010/03/0215time-lapse-video-reveals.html
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/hobet.php?src=features-recent


Deprived of rain for the past two years, over 3,000 rural residents of the Galgadud region of Somalia have left their villages to camp on the outskirts of other towns seeking alternative ways to survive.  
http://allafrica.com/stories/201003170999.html