Green Options

Many of us have a large circle of friends, coworkers and family members that seems to grow wider each year. As our gift list grows longer, holiday time can bring with it a sense of environmental dread. The excess packaging, wrapping paper, bows, tape, and whatnots. The time spent searching for the perfect gift for folks who likely have just about everything they need or want. (How many re-giftable items do you receive each year?) Then you buy a couple of extra gifts just in case there is somebody you might have forgotten and you want to avoid that awkward moment of the one-sided gift exchange! Ugh.

Consider making this holiday season low impact and no-stress by joining the Blue Planet Run Holiday Gift of Water program.

The team at Blue Planet Run would like to share their perspective of an amazing young woman who goes the distance to help others.

We have been in awe of Katie Spotz for quite some time for all that she does for Blue Planet Run. She ran as part of a four-person team for the Blue Planet Run 24-hour trail relay last spring; she is training to row across the Atlantic by herself next year; and she has just accomplished her latest amazing feat in the name of safe drinking water…

CLEAR CLUTTER FOR CLEAN WATER (say that 5 times fast!)

Water is on the tip of everybody’s tongue these days. America is facing major crises with floods in some regions, hundreds of wild fires in others, and droughts throughout. As horrible as all of that may sound, the majority of us can all still go to our faucet and access safe and clean drinking water without a whole lot of effort. Not the case for many people worldwide.

Fact: 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.

Fact: Countless women and children walk on average 4 miles just to fetch a jug of water that is not guaranteed to be safe to drink.

Fact: $30 provides one person with a lifetime of safe drinking water.

Blue Planet Run Foundation taps into the deeper running issues African women face when they lack access to water. The first ever African Women and Water Conference was recently held at the Greenbelt Center (home of Nobel Laureate, Wangari Maathai’s, Greenbelt Movement to plant trees). Annette Faye, a representative of BPRF’s Peer Water Exchange reports her findings:

Why would women need to gather to discuss the topic of water?

• Pastoral women wake up at pre-dawn hours to walk great distances in order to collect water and relieve themselves. By midday they must walk out into the desert at a greater distance to avoid being seen, often returning ashamed and sometimes soiled.
• Water privatization makes water inaccessible to most because it raises prices. Male water vendors dominate the communal water points, so women have to wait in long lines. Women get beaten if it takes too long to return home, accused by the husbands that they are cheating on them.
• Desperate women exchange sex for water to avoid the line.

Every single women agreed, and took for granted, that water is their responsibility and that it’s a problem.

The AWWC, held in Kenya, was comprised of 30 women from all over Africa. These women were eager to learn and share with their communities. The five-day schedule was packed, going well into the evening. Between activities women broke into song and dance. They learned how to implement new technologies, write business plans, test water’s safety, and use the Peer Water Exchange collaborative model. The women were excited to join a global network and liked that the PWX application is standardized.