Thursday, August 04, 2005

Dihydrogen Monoxide Numbers

Got water?
$46 billion - Amount spent per year globally on bottled water
$1.7 billion - Amount needed per year beyond current spending to provide clean drinking water to everyone on earth
More than one billion - Number of people worldwide who lack reliable access to safe drinking water
80 - Percentage of world illnesses due to water-borne diseases

Source: Sojourners SojoMail, The New York Times

2 comments:

J Man said...

It's pretty ironic, isn't it? That 75% of the earth is covered with water - the most essential thing for life - and, almost all of it is unsafe for consumtion (b/c it's salt water).
Do you remember which company to cash in on the bottled water craze was? It was Evian. What's Evian spelled backward? Yup, naive! The story goes that they named the company for what people would be to buy a bottle of water for $1+ when it's available from the tap for less than 1¢.
Now we have companies making millions of dollars anually, while people are dying.

I do believe in capitalism; however, we all have a responsiblity to pursue 'wealth' - in whatever form that looks like - and, then to share our wisdom/experience with others, so they can acheive their successes - not hord it all for ourselves.

Vagabondsoul said...

The world is screwed up...and this, is a prime example!