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World Water Day 2012 – Water and Food Security

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Did you know that it takes 3,000 liters of water to satisfy your daily needs?

When you add up the liquids you consume and what goes into making the food you eat, the products  you use, the clothes you wear, and the water you use in the bathroom, kitchen or laundry room, that’s about 12,680 glasses of water a day.

In 1993, the United Nations designated March 22 as World Water Day to draw attention to the importance of freshwater and to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme for 2012 is “Water and Food Security.”

Our missioners serve in solidarity with people around the world who face water and food shortages. According to the UN, drought is the single most common cause of severe food shortages in developing countries and caused more deaths during the last century than any other natural disaster.

From 1998 to 2000, Kathy Snider served the indigenous poor of the remote Ixcán jungle of Guatemala who experience constant climate changes with long droughts and floods.  Kathy and the community once went 15 days without water. Kathy continues to live and serve in solidarity with the people of Guatemala through her own Ixcán Ministries.

Kathy filling buckets after going 15 days without water on mission in Guatemala

What can you do this World Water Day to help the world’s thirsty and hungry?

  • Educate yourself about water usage and consumption. The UN has some great little videos, interactive games and reference sheets. You can also find out your water footprint
  • Adopt a more sustainable diet by eating foods which take less water to produce. Meats and grains need more water than vegetables. 
  • Don’t waste food.  Thirty percent of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost. If we reduced food loss and waste by 50 percent at the global level, it would save 1,350 km3 of water. That’s almost four times the mean annual rainfall over Spain.

We prepare and support lay Catholics for two-year international, one-year domestic and 1-2 week short-term mission service opportunities in solidarity with impoverished and marginalized communities across the globe.

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