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Water and Water Pollution
Endangered Sea Turtles dying from ingesting plastics
Endangered sea turtles across the world are accidentally eating plastic. Scientists report 30-60% of juvenile sea turtles have plastic inside them, which is whySeaTurtles.org is leading efforts to clean up plastic pollution and advance public policies that reduce wasteful plastic use.
Vote today to “Create Plastic-Free Sea Turtle Habitat” at nesting beaches in Central America! Project AWARE Foundation will award funding to the projects with the most votes on Facebook using the Contests App. Voting ends after September 1!
1) Click here to visit the Project AWARE Facebook page,
2) Click on the green VOTE NOW button
3) Accept the “Go to Contests App” in the Facebook pop-up window
4) Your vote to “Create Plastic-Free Sea Turtle Habitat” has been submitted!
Then, share this project with friends!
We will continue to leverage creative opportunities to fund the increasing need to save sea turtles from plastics pollution. You can donate directly to this work to help us clean sea turtle habitat, ban plastic bags and disposable polystyrene foam, and educate the next generation of ocean advocates!
Why is Hot Springs, AR water so hot?
http://www.nps.gov/hosp/forteachers/upload/followthewater_final.pdf
This is a fantastic explantation on why Hot Springs water is so hot! Check it out. This great information is provided by the National Park Service, Hot Springs National Park.
Photo by Susie Harris, Harrisphotos.com
“Nor Any Drop To Drink”
By Rod Harris
In a poem titled “The Rime Of the Ancient Mariner”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1798), reference is made to “Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink”.
Water is essential to survival on our planet, and our life on earth cannot exist without safe drinking water. Water covers 70.9% of the Earth’s surface. 97% is found in the oceans, 2.4% in the polar ice caps and glaciers, 1.6% below ground in aquifers and .001% in the air as vapor, clouds, or precipitation. Only about 0.024% of the earth’s vast water supply is available as liquid freshwater in accessible groundwater deposits from rivers, lakes, and streams. The remainder is too salty or is stored as ice, or is to deep underground to extract at affordable prices.
The Water Cycle or Hydrologic Cycle collects, purifies, and distributes the earth’s fixed supply of water. This cycle is considered to be a cycle of natural renewal of water quality. Through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and transpiration (water loss through evaporation from the surfaces of plants) the Hydrologic Cycle continues to re-supply water to the “water planet”, earth. Surface runoff of water continually re-sculptures the earth. Groundwater replenishes streams and lakes. Water is the number one way in which nutrients are transported between ecosystems.
Humans alter the Water Cycle in three ways.
(1) We withdraw large quantities of freshwater from lakes, rivers, streams and underground sources faster than nature can replace it.
(2) We clear vegetation that increases runoff and reduce infiltration to replace underground aquifers. This also alters 
weather patterns by reducing transpiration by plants.
(3) We increase flooding by draining wetlands for farming and other purposes. If wetlands are not disturbed or altered they act as a natural flood control by absorbing the overflow of water like a sponge. When we cover many acres of land with roads, parking lots, and buildings it lowers the land’s ability to absorb water, which increases water runoff. The runoff often picks up a variety of harmful water pollutants.
It is estimated that by 2025 half the world will be facing water-based vulnerability. Water demands may exceed supply by as much as 50% making water an enormous commodity in the world economy. As stewards of all the natural resources our earth contains, protecting our freshwater supply is essential to sustaining life on Our Blue Sphere.
Photos by Susie Harris, HarrisPhotos.com
OurBlueSphere.org
Hot Springs, AR 71901
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