An invitation from Blue Planet Run Foundation:

Come Out With Family and Friends March 19, 22 and 28 to TAPPED, the Movie and Support Safe Drinking Water Projects

Blue Planet Run is marking World Water Week with 3 fund-raising showings of the award-winning documentary, TAPPED. TAPPED is from the producers of Who Killed The Electric Car? and I.O.U.S.A. The movie portrays the size of the global bottled water industry and its negative impact on the world’s environment, health and local economies.

We are proud to put these showings on with our partner, Earthlust, the maker of our beautiful, eco-conscious water bottles. There will be 3 showings at the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, CA in the Mountain View Room:

* Friday, March 19, 7pm (wine and snacks will be served)
* Monday, March 22, 10:30 a.m. (babies welcome and drop off child care available)
* Sunday, March 28, 5 p.m. (family friendly)

There is a suggested donation of $10. All proceeds will benefit Blue Planet Run and our work to provide safe drinking water for life to people in need for as little as $30 per person.

Some people make a business out of getting around the law, regardless of the affect it has on you or your health. The intent of the Clean Water Act is to protect water from getting contaminated. Unfortunately, the act mentions “navigable waterways” which leaves a loophole. That means that companies can dump whatever toxins they want into “non-navigable” waterways, like the Avondale Creek in Alabama. At one time in its history, the creek was probably a great place to swim on a hot southern day. But no more. The McWane Company of Alabama took advantage of the loophole and dumped lead and zinc into this little creek. And because the creek isn’t a “navigable waterway,” the company can truthfully claim on their website that it has:

“implemented environmental practices that in many instances exceed U.S. standards, producing performance that is among the best of the industries in which we operate. McWane strives to improve our performance every day, so that we are part of protecting our environment for generations to come.”

But McWane isn’t the only company. I’m not singling them out. It’s just that they were mentioned in the New York Times today. There are lots others, do you know of any in your area.

The Clean Water Act needs to be fixed to eliminate the loopholes. The act confuses the Supreme Court as to what water is protected exactly. You or I could probably figure this out, even without a law degree. But the law is all about wording!

Read Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A. from the New York Times. Then take action to get your representatives to fix the act.

More than 40% of the people who live in Yemen don’t have access to clean drinking water. People often use scarves to filter out large pieces of debris, without realizing that the real dangers in the water slip right through. Those are the microbes that cause debilitating diarrhea.

The Silver Filter Company recently introduced silver-clay filters that kill microbes. The filters sort of look like clay pots you’d use for planting. They are that simple. Yet the silver kills the microbes in the water on contact. (Small amounts of silver are used; they don’t affect health.) These filters are improving lives for children and adults alike. For the complete story, see Silver Filters: Providing Clean Water to All.

Shigella is a bacteria that thrives where basic sanitation and clean drinking water are not. Right now, that’s Haiti. People who lost their homes are living in tent cities. Waste is accumulating. Water is hard to find.

The New York Times reports:

The problem has become impossible to overlook in many districts of Port-au-Prince, with the stench of decomposing bodies replaced by that of excrement. Children in some camps that are still lacking latrines and portable toilets play in open areas scattered with the waste. The light rains here this week caused some donated latrines in the camps to overflow, illustrating how the problem would grow more acute as the rainy season intensified in the months ahead.

The earthquakes may be over, but Haiti still needs help. In fact, the place was in need of severe help before the earthquake. Stand With Haiti, donate to Partners in Health. They’ve been on the scene for many years and are still there.

Katie Spotz started rowing from Africa to South America more than 44 days ago. On February 9, she reached the halfway point. Read Katie’s blog and donate to her cause.

Filter Pure issued a challenge to women to give up a hair cut and use that money to purchase a life-saving water filter for someone in Haiti. Lisa Ballantine, the Executive Director of FilterPure figures that the average cost of a haircut for a woman is $30. I actually think that’s a low estimate, at least for the Bay area in California. She is in Port-au-Prince helping out with disaster relief. Overwhelmed by the scope of the tragedy, she issued this statement:

I am calling on the women of American for help! Consider this fact: the average women in the U.S. will spend $30 at minimum on a haircut. $30 will provide a Haitian family with a water filter that will provide them with safe clean water for 5 years!! I am calling on all American women to consider donating $30, the cost of a haircut to provide a lifesaving water filter to a family affected by the tragic earthquake. I am calling on all American women to help me to bring attention to this message and help me to raise awareness. As a demonstration of my love, commitment and devotion to this project, I will be shaving my head Saturday on the street in Port-au-Prince. Please consider making a donation and asking others to do the same. When my head is shaved, I will be wearing my special bandana hoping to draw attention to the cause. You can also purchase a bandana for $3 of promote this effort of bringing safe clean water to the families and children of Haiti. Please watch my head shaving ceremony on the video section of the website www.filterpurefilters.org on Saturday for the ceremony.”

Lisa already shaved her head. You can see the results on the FilterPure website.

Dolphin meat is incredibly high in mercury—toxic levels high. Knowing this, the fishermen shown in The Cove (see yesterday’s post) convinced the local school to serve dolphin for the school lunches. The kids have to eat the lunch; they can’t bring their own. These fishermen not only don’t care about the dolphins but they also don’t care about the kids getting dosed with Mercury. They do care about making money.

You’d think the fishermen would have learned about the dangers of mercury, given Japan’s history with Minamata disease (the result of mercury poisoning). That disaster took the Japanese government 12 years to recognize. In the meantime thousands of people were affected.

Note: Two courageous members of the school board protested serving the dolphin meat out of concern for the children. Since the release of the film, the school stopped serving dolphin.

See The Japanese Government is Poisoning its Own Citizens.

What can you do?

Follow these suggestions from Take Part:

1. Send a letter to our leaders, urging them to address this issue
2. Share the petition with your friends, especially those living in Japan
3. Expose the secret in Taiji by posting the “Secret is Out” widget on your own blog, MySpace or Facebook page
4. Text DOLPHIN to 44144, and sign the letter straight from your phone
5. Join the Facebook Cause and share the petition with your friends online

I just watched The Cove. It’s a documentary that tells a true story of how Japanese fishermen corral dolphins and kill them. They kill around 23,000 dolphins and porpoises each year. The film motivated me to declare this week as Stop Japan From Killing Week. Read my posts each day this week and take an action to get Japan to stop killing dolphins.

Here is how Japanese fishermen kill dolphins:

1. Dolphins are sensitive to sound. Many fishing boats get together and bang on pipes that are partially submerged. This causes the dolphins to herd together. When the dolphins are corralled between the boats and the land, the fisherman drop nets that trap the dolphins. They get the dolphins closer and closer to shore.

2. Some of the captured dolphins are selected to sell to dolphinariums. These animals bring the fishermen a LOT of money—often more then $100,000 per animal. These are the dolphins that are imprisoned for the purpose of letting humans touch and swim with them. Dolphins don’t smile, so if you think they are happy being trapped, you’re wrong. (Many countries are banning this practice.)

3. The dolphins that are not sold—which are most of them—are slaughtered. The movie makers had to go undercover to get this footage because the slaughtering cove is hidden from public view. Basically the water turns from blue to red with all the blood spilled. The dolphins thrash wildly trying to escape and as they go through the last throes of death.

4. The meat is often labeled and sold as whale meat . That’s because the Japanese will pay more for whale meat than for dolphin meat. (Yup, the Japanese eat whale meat and refuse to give it up. That’s another story.) It’s also sold as pet food, but likely not labeled as such.

See How They Kill.

What can you do?

Help get the word out:

Send the Official Cove Postcard to your friends and family.

Sign this letter.

This article is from the Blue Planet Run Foundation, an organization that I help promote with my blog. (See their page “Blogs Featuring Our Cause.”)

San Francisco, CA – Dec. 16, 2009 – San Francisco Environment and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission officials presided today over the launch of GLOBALTAP, a new and innovative alternative to bottled water, with the introduction of the first drinking water “filling station” at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

Unlike traditional water fountains, GLOBALTAP provides an innovative system for people to fill reusable bottles with water in high visibility public areas.

The pilot installation at Yerba Buena Plaza will lead to the rollout of additional units throughout the city of San Francisco in 2010. Ultimately, GLOBALTAP plans to extend its reach on a global scale, from the United States and Europe to Africa, Asia, and South America, donating tap stations to cities and villages in second and third world countries. GLOBALTAP will not only be in places where clean water is more available but also where water it is not readily available.

“San Francisco has been a leader in educating people about the negative impacts of bottled water,” said Jared Blumenfeld Director of San Francisco Environment. “Today we are honored to be the first U.S. city to host a GLOBALTAP filling station. Now San Franciscans can ‘BYOB’ (‘Bring Your Own Bottle’) every day.”

“I support Mayor Newsom’s efforts to make San Francisco a model for green initiatives such as the GLOBALTAP Pilot Project,” says Fred Blackwell of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, property owner of Yerba Buena Gardens.

“San Francisco has the best tap water in the world,” said Laura Spanjian, SFPUC Assistant General Manager for External Affairs. “Our partnership with GLOBALTAP will make it easier for everyone to enjoy our great-tasting Hetch Hetchy tap water and reduce waste from all those plastic bottles.”

Go to Blue Planet Run Foundation to read the rest of this article.

This is the story of an ingenious solution for poverty alleviation using human urine and faeces! See it to believe it…