One pressing issue I’ll be exploring on the Micro Earths expeditions is water security.

Water security is one of the biggest challenges for global sustainability as aquifers continue to be over pumped, rivers dry up, and wetlands disappear to development.

The demand for water has been growing at twice the rate of population increase over the last 100 years, a rate that is set to accelerate in the next decade by 50% in developing countries and 18% in developed countries.[1] By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in areas of absolute water scarcity and population growth alone will account for the consumption of 70% of all available fresh water.

Clearly, we cannot continue down this unsustainable path.

As well as industry initiatives in water treatment, re-use, and desalination, we can examine our own individual consumption patterns. Those of us living in affluent countries use between 30 and 100 gallons a day, well above the global average. Compare this with desert Micro Earths communities where people live comfortably on just a few gallons of water a day.

What can we learn from these communities to reduce household costs and guarantee future water security for our own families?

More at http://microearths.com/

[1] Reference: UN-Water, the United Nations inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater related issues

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