Battle For Earth

Oct 11, 2016 by STC_PHILIPPINES_Paula Patricia G.Autajay

71% of the earth's total surface is composed of water. 97% of which is Saline while the remaining 3% is Freshwater. All living things are composed of water and it is a basic necessity in order to survive. Water is used as a habitat for marine life and it is also used to regulate the earth's climate through the water cycle. Water also plays a vital role in shaping the earth into a spherical form.

One of the many issues that our nation is facing now is that 1/3 of our population has no access due to climate change and water pollution. This type of pollution is caused by global warming and deforestation which then leads to the spread of diseases caused by contaminated water, the destruction of marine life and many more.

In the Philippines, the leading consumer of water is its agricultural sector which accounts for 85% of the total water supply, 8% for the industrial sector and lastly, 7% for domestic users. With this, researchers found out that only 77% of the rural population and 90% of the urban community gets access to an improved water source. Water is consumed mostly in areas such Metro Manila, Davao, Baguio City, Iloilo City and many more. One of the leading issues being faced by the country is water scarcity.

Water Scarcity in the Philippines is caused by several factors such as imbalance when it comes to supply and demand, weak water use regulation and Inefficient water use. With this issue at hand we need to have the proper knowledge on how to conserve and properly manage our water use since most of the activities we do each day entails the use of water such as taking a bath, washing dishes, even eating meat and many more.

Last October 3, 2016, we, the Advance Environmental Education class of St. Theresa's College Quezon City, were tasked to take the Water Footprint Test, which helps estimate the amount of water we use each day, and to take note of the monthly water consumption of one another. With 31 students who were able to note their monthly consumption, we found out that the total water consumption of the class is 1157 cubic meters each month with an average of 37.32 cubic meters. On the other hand when it comes to our Water Footprint Test most of our daily consumption ranges between 1500-2000 Gallons/Day while most of our household daily consumption ranges between 10-20 Gallons/Day but a few exceed that with some having more than 30,000 Gallons/ Day.

There are different factors affecting the amount of water being consumed by the students and their household and most of which is because of the day to day activities they do. The consumption of water is affected by the time they take a shower, amount of laundries and dishes to clean, cars to wash and plants to garden. The most common factor that affected the Water Footprint of the students is their consumption of meat, which we all did not know has a big impact on our water consumption. For the household aspect, the most common factor is the number of people in the household with some having 8-13 in the house.

For our second activity, we were tasked to run a country as the president and make sure that we achieve the goal of lessening carbon emission by implementing policies but this policies should be approved by most people and should not affect the supply of food and water and also wealth and power. Through this activity we were able to develop our ability to think critically because all factors such as wealth, power, food and water supply as well as the carbon emission should be balanced in order for our country not to lose any of the factors. We were also able to develop our sense of leadership because in the activity we cannot just think what we want as leaders but we also need to take into consideration our people and what they would like and what is right for them. As leaders and stewards of God's creation we have the responsibility to lead our fellow human beings in nurturing and protecting our common home.

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