http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/ We love sports, and we love our communities. We have a hard time sitting still, and we have this crazy idea that we can change the world. Play City is a fusion of these two passions -- a hyperactive need to move and a genuine desire to make a difference. www.youthnoise.com/PlayCity en-us Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:14:46 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss playcity@youthnoise.org http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/18540 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:14:46 GMT Stores like Home Depot and Lowes are great places for your parents or neighbors to shop to buy plants that are specific to the environment in which you live. Now, I am young and do not own a home, but it is important to encourage your parents and their neighbors to conserve water. My parents live in a city that currently holds a water-conservation policy, because the city is in a temporary drought situation. If you ever drive on roads where dozens of more stoplights have been popping up recently, stop and observe these at each light: The center median on the road: Is it lush and pretty, full of a mix of forrest-type trees right next to pretty flowers? I know this sounds like I have a lot of time on my hands. I don't. I just drive a lot. And I notice the backdrop of hills: hills with brush and weeds. Natural hills. We do not have an endless supply of water. It takes a massive amount of manpower to clean and dilute the pollution, distribute water, and price our water. Water should not be wasted on plants that aren't supposed to be in the desert - this water should be used in our homes, at least. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/18540 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/17990 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:29:56 GMT It seems as if most people would be able to understand that golf courses take a lot of water to keep the grass perfectly green. But does anyone ever wonder, at least in Southern California, why our desert/Mediterranean landscapes are degraded and built over by contractors from who-knows-where? I think it's funny how the natural landscapes are intercut with roads that are so-called shortcuts. But then the shortcuts are intercut with other shortcuts and then the result is a stoplight every 20 feet. (Stop lights that, by the way, only stay green long enough to let one car go through.) Medians on the roads are created and planted with beautiul, tall mixes of trees and plants. Trees that sometimes look like they don't belong. Trees that look forest-y. Trees that are brought in from somewhere else to replace the trees that were just cut down. Nature is demolished, and in turn, to compensate for the fact that buildings are built over the land, landscapers are hired to plant plants around the buildings. Plants that are too manicured-looking. Plants that don't go with the landscape. Plants that might not be drought-resistant. Why does every city in SoCal let developers come in and completely degrade nature?? Places where I took child-hood and teen walks are no more. It is quite sad how SoCal is a concrete jungle. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/17990 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/15326 Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:08:07 GMT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDZ46EfCOW0 Check out this awesome video! Surfrider Foundation included this in one of their emails they sent to me. I am inspired to search and compile a list of senators, local councilman, etc to have on hand whenever I need to write about an issue I feel is important, such as water issues. I live close to the ocean and it's important that it stay as pollution free as possible! And remember, plastic NEVER fully disinegrates and can be toxic to not only marine life, but to your health as well! http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/15326 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/15227 Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:40:58 GMT In a Sustainabilty Task Force Meeting on campus the other day, I was alerted to the fact that there is a mysterious brook near some NYU property called Minetta Brook which has disapeared! That's nuts! It is the source of many a blog speculation, but I am blown away! Mostly I am tripped out by the fact that New York City used to have natural features like that. They tell me it used to be a forest. A forest! I am stoked nowadays when I see plants on fire escapes.Brooks mean that little animals used to poke around foliage and drink from it (I am imagining Bambi obviously) What do you guys think about this phenomenon? There is some speculation that the stream is likely redirected directly to storm drains, meaning it turns into polluted, unsueable sludge instead of sinking back into groud water reserves. Which is a strike against. But look at that picture of Bambi, and tell me we don't need some more of that around the city. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/15227 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14972 Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:49:37 GMT So check it out gang,I have naively, impulsively, enthusiastically decided to enter into a week long movie making competition. I have never made a movie before and I am super pumped.http://www.campusmoviefest.com/aaaannnnnddddd if I make a really good one about domestic poverty, I can submit it to win $10,000! So let's brainstorm bloggers, what are your thoughts about a 5 minute film-able way that water and poverty go together? http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14972 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14836 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:12:52 GMT Scott Harrison, the founder of charity:water, is always working on new creative ways to raise awareness about water issues. In February, Scott teamed up with twitter to organize a Twestival: the first ever world-wide festival organized through Twitter! Over 200 cities hosted the event and collectively raised $250,000 for charity: water. This money will be used to complete 55 water projects in Ethiopia, India, and Uganda. His latest act of unbridled creativity included an exhibition of photographs in NYC's Chelsea Market. Scott prominently placed various photographs of kids holding bottles of contaminated water and juxtaposing them with kids drinking clean water. A simple comparison, yet it speaks volumes about the situation of millions and what we can do to help! Yellow canisters are strewn about to show what kind of containers people in Africa use when they walk for miles to a water source. These containers double as donation boxes and all proceeds will go directly to water projects! A wishing well is also part of the ensemble and passersby can drop in a coin or two, make a wish, a help bring clean drinking water to communities. Btw, did you know it's world water week? This whole week we will be blogging and featuring awesome water-related happenings around the world. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14836 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14626 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:19:16 GMT Posted by David Zetland at http://aguanomics.com/ Water Chats -- McCloud I met with Debra Anderson and Brian Stewart in McCloud, a small town just east of Mt. Shasta. McCloud is blessed with an amazing water supply: Water springs flow straight from the ground, gushing more clean, cold, volcanically-enhanced (!) water than the community can ever hope to drink. And that's the problem... Nestle wants to bottle that water and sell it to people elsewhere in the State. Well -- the problem is NOT that Nestle wants to bottle the water but the terms under which Nestle wants to do so [Prior posts]. Debra, who is president of the McCloud Watershed Council, spoke with a mixture of concern and outrage over the handling of McCloud's water -- worrying that the local population is too enamoured of a deal that promises the good old days [i.e., the company town security that the saw mill provided] and/or has not considered how Nestle may choose to interpret a contract [here] that gives it a lot of leeway. Brian is involved in local politics but spoke as a general member of the public. Listen to our one-hour and six minute [23MB MP3] chat to learn more about how a community of 1,200 people reconciles political, economic and environmental concerns as it tries to maintain and improve its quality of life. [By amazing coincidence, a caller asked about McCloud when I was on KALW a few days later. I was very happy to have enough knowledge to answer his question.] Bottom Line: There are costs and benefits to every decision, and McCloud's people are wrestling with a decision that could enhance or destroy their way of life. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14626 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14602 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:07:06 GMT I've been getting updates from the friendly folks at www.useitwisely.com around water resources and the most recent tweet I found was the 100 Ways to Conserve list that they compiled most recently. I must say, I truly appreciate these helpful hints and here are a few that I haven't heard in the past: #10: For cold drinks keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap. This way, every drop goes down you and not the drain. #17: Collect the water you run to rinse off veggies and water the houseplants with it. #28: Put food coloring in your toilet tank. If it seeps into the toilet bowl without flushing, you have a leak. Fixing it can save up to 1,000 gallons a month. #61: Next time you add or replace a flower or shrub, choose a low water use plant for year-round landscape color and save up to 550 gallons each year. #75: Drop your tissue in the trash instead of the toliet and save water every time. Check out the complete list here and challenge yourself to adapt 5 of them. I think personal sustainbility is KEY to combating issues like water usage, global warming and others- however, i think there needs to be a closely related effort to monitor industry and agriculture when it comes to water usage and how better to have those facets of American life recognize their usage and how to better manage it. To do this without blue washing is key and necessary when it comes to the sustainability of water on this planet. These industries use 80% of our fresh water in the United States. How do we work on that? http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14602 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14464 Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:19:49 GMT Hey, GOOD loves water too! Check out this little infographic. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14464 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14334 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:09:27 GMT I've been volunteering for the San Francisco UNICEF Tap Project recently. It's been a really neat experience and we've been working with quite a few volunteers from all over the bay area to get resturants to sign up. Once they do, during world water week, they ask patrons to donate a dollar for clean water projects in the most needy areas around the world. This week, I got an email from one of the coordinators in Denver how showed me this hilarious video they put together to throw a funny satrical twist to dirty water. Home shopping anyone? Check it out. Lots of interesting ways to tell stories, and they don't all have to be poor sad children... http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14334 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14303 Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:44:13 GMT Over a hundred whales and dolphins were beached on King's island. That sucks. But I learned several valuable lessons: 1) Never be fooled, no matter how shallow the water you are in, things capable of killing you are ALWAYS near you in the ocean. You are never safe in water, never ever. 2) People in general (except Valerie) can do amazing things. People on King's Islands saved over 48 whales, many of which weighed over a ton. 3) We are like those whales and don't even realize it. It's really simple...there isn't enough water and unlike the whales, it takes more than making sure our blowholes are up, 30 people, and a massive stretcher to save us. We need water infrastructure reform now and we are running out of time...our blowholes are in the sand http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14303 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14291 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:39:13 GMT Last week, California s Governator Schwarzenegger declared a statewide environmental emergency. This is the third consecutive year California has experienced a drought. Some counties have already decided that water rationing is the best option. The Governor is still only threatening with water rationing. He has asked everyone living in cities to reduce water use by 20%. It is very difficult to gage how much of one's water usage is 20%. We need some serious changes, soon! Watch the announcement here. 5 Reasons why this problem sucks for CA residents: 1. No more Singing in the Rain shower performances. 2. Pools can only be refilled with grey water. 3. The entire state is going on a diet since there isn t enough water to produce food for everyone. 4. No more slip-and-slide birthday parties. 5. Waterman just lost his job. 3 Reasons why this problem rocks for CA residents: 1. The state plans to expand public utilities projects 2. and hence jobs will be created 3. People will finally start caring about this precious resource Drought is a really serious problem that will impact food production, employment and the livelihoods of entire communities. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14291 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14260 Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:45:24 GMT In this day and age, it is all about information synthesis. This is why I want to inquire from the general DROPPER public (except James) about the idea of teaming up with this NY-based non-profit called StoryCorps to record some of the upcoming events, especially the Water Challenge. Basically they are awesome. StoryCorps is dedicated to recording and archiving the personal histories of as many people as possible, of listening as an act of love. Check 'em out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wufu80pmJE Also, on an unrelated note http://www.good.is/?p=15220 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14260 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14134 Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:39:26 GMT YouthNoise got the opportunity and privledge to work with an outstanding group of people in coordinating an event last week that YouthNoise was a co-partner with. I traveled to New York before the Baltimore summit on Thursday, Feb. 19th to help host The Water Front screening, panel and party which took place at the Brecht Forum, an amazing space for social activism. We partnered with some amazing organizations- Food and Water Watch, Media that Matters, and of course, Liz Miller and her film the Water Front which I highly recommend viewing.The best part that happened was probably the high attendance (the place was packed with 80 people) and the amount of interest of people wanting to take on new actions, etc. Four participants took home a dvd to show and screen on their campuses and in their communities, and others discussed how they wanted to create dialouge around water in the United States. Very successful! Here are some photos from the event: Set UP: Leah Sapian, Media that Matters and Panelist. Liz Miller, Director of The Water Front Packed house at the Brecht Forum: Liz Miller, answering questions about the film: Lauren (YN), Tennillee (E.P.I.C. and DROP participant), Valerie (YN DROP Intern), James (YN Staff) Leah, Media that Matters, Rachael from Food and Water Watch New York City, Lauren Liz and Dustin, long time friend from film school! Overall, this event couldn't have been possible without Food and Water Watch and all the amazing people that helped create it. I was truly inspired by Rachael, Leah and Liz as well as the folks that showed up on a Thursday night to discuss these vitally important issues to our communities, country and world. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14134 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14052 Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:00:33 GMT Hey YouthNoise! We're having an exciting event this THURSDAY, February 19th, 2009 at the Brecht Forum in New York City for a screening, a panel and mini party to announce some winners of the really cool Water Front Remix Challenge that I posted a blog about a couple months ago. We want to see our DROP Participants there as well as our other friends and family of YouthNoise. Our partners are some amazing organizations! Check them out: Media that Matters The Water Front Food and Water Watch Brecht Forum For more info check this out. If you want to check out the film and you're NOT in New York City, here is a little info: The award winning documentary, The Water Front is the story of one community fighting against the seemingly inevitable path to water privatization. THE WATER FRONT is not just about water, but touches on the ver essence of our democratic system. The film presents a community in crisis but it also presents the powerful enactment of local participation in finding solutions to the problems of our times. In coordination with Food and Water Watch, the film is on tour around the Great Lakes through March 2009. If you're attending the IMPACT Conference, the film will be screened there as well! WE HOPE TO SEE YOU IN NEW YORK! http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/14052 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13811 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:01:09 GMT 1 in 6 people don't have access to clean drinking water. It is a staggering fact, though it is much more compelling from the young lady in the video below. I have a lot in common with her...passionate about water, love people, same lip gloss. My lip gloss be poppin. Check out this video and twestivus with the restofus. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13811 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13750 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:03:22 GMT The first Twestival (twitter festival) ever will take place on February 12 to help raise money for charity: water. Over 100 cities will be hosting a Twestival which means there is a good chance that one of them will be in your city! The idea is to mobilize caring citizens across the world for a worthy cause! All proceeds will go directly to charity: water projects. It takes about $ 4,000 to drill a well and provide a community with clean drinking water. Please, be part of the solution and support Twestival in your city. Visit http://twestival.com/ to see if Twestival is coming to your city. Scott Harrison is the founder of charity: water and also happens to be quite cute! He started charity: water 2.5 years ago and has since provided more than 600,000 people with clean drinking water. Check him out! There is also a contest to design the offical Twestival t-shirt. For details, check out http://desiredhearts.com/twestival/. http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13750 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13723 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:57:06 GMT Today, I tried to imagine wheeling a Hippo Roller through the snowy streets of New York. The thought of ramming unsuspecting slow-walkers in the back of the calves did have its appeal, however I determined that it would be difficult to say the least. Hippo Rollers are designed to make 24 gallons of water wheelable (think lawn mower style), for the greater ease of the thousands of people in rural Africa who have to spend around seven hours of their day just getting water, and returning with the load. To all who refuse to buy a reusable water bottle because you would rather just buy a plastic one, consider this concept. The Hippo Roller Challenge will be asking 10 New Yorkers to do just that this summer, to consider how their lives would be different by living off of 5 gallons of water per day. For those of us who assume that water really comes out of a tap (the way that meat originates at the grocery store and electricity from the walls), imagining a world without the infrastructure to transport water from a source to us is almost unfathomable. Every little thing that we use water for would be spending a drop of water that we had labored to procure. From dish washing to toilet flushing, we use water almost involuntarily. So consider your commute. If you live in a crowded urban area, like me, the idea of adding a 24 gallon jug onto your cargo may seem insurmountable. Then again, thousands of people spend the bulk of their waking hours making the trek towards fresh water everyday just to survive. So when you think of it like that, really it is not so outlandish after all. Check it out http://www.hipporoller.org/ http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13723 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13701 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:49:30 GMT I got an alert in my email box today from Food and Water Watch saying that Obama may be electing Republican Senator Judd Gregg to the office and postion of Secretary of Commerce. However, according to Food and Water Watch, Mr. Gregg is an advocate of offshore AQUACULTURE. Yet another hm need to look this up term. So this is what my friend wikipedia said: is the farming of freshwater and saltwater organisms including molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Unlike fishing, aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, implies the cultivation of aquatic populations under controlled conditions. Photo of an operation in Chile: The TAKE ACTION initiative said: Senator Gregg has been a strong supporter of offshore aquaculture - the mass production of fish in huge floating cages in ocean waters. He consistently expresses support for an experimental facility in New Hampshire and pushes for federal funding for ocean fish farming projects. Tell Obama to reconsider Senator Gregg's candidacy. The Bush administration was pushing ocean fish farming its entire time in office! So WHY do people support it? 1. Economic Viability 2. Job Creation 3. Give fisherman the option for deep water fishing which has been highly regulated 4. Sustainable way to get our fish Why does Food and Water watch NOT support Mr. Gregg? 1. Threatens Fishing and recreational activities 2. Threatens the marine environment 3. Threatens communities living by the ocean In an exerpt from thier executive summary: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is promoting open ocean aquaculture as a way to reduce the country s $9.2 billion seafood trade deficit and ease pressures on decimated wild marine fish populations. The government has spent more than $25 million supporting four experimental fish farms, as well as research into this technology, which involves growing tens of thousands of fish in cages anchored to the seafloor between three and 200 miles off the U.S. coast. The government wants to open public waters for the potential construction of thousands of these cages. Despite this substantial financial and political support, open ocean aquaculture has not been shown to be environmentally sustainable, financially viable, or technically possible on a commercial scale. Each of the four taxpayer-supported experimental operations in Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico continues to be plagued by problems. Cages and other equipment have broken, fish have died on a large scale, and sharks have threatened workers. At one aquaculture facility, each pound of fish sold costs about $3,000 in U.S. taxpayer money to produce. To learn more and get TONS more resources check out this link! So, do you think Food and Water Watch has a point, should we say NO to Senator Gregg? If so, sign this petition. If not, why not? http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13701 http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13623 Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:10:46 GMT For Christmas my roomate bought me a water inspired shirt and it said Save Water Get Dirty which I thought was pretty clever. So, in order to see how inspired clothing apparel has been in the 'blue' fad, I did a little google-ing of water activism t's. Here is what I found... Save Water Get Dirty alternative version of what I have.. Nothing like showering with your fav. people, but I have a feeling my roomates wouldn't probably go for it. and my personal fav just because of the design: Lovely really. Can you think of a better slogan, something that truly defines the playful attitude of a water activist? Maybe we should just create a new t-shirt design and make it a part of DROP. Could be fun.... http://www.youthnoise.com/drop/blog/view/13623