Here is some food – or actually water – for thought:
How many gallons of water is in a…
- Car: Approx. 39,090 gallons of water go into making a car (whether or not that includes the 518 gallons it takes to make each tire is unclear).
- Pair of Jeans: Approx 1,800 gallons of water are needed to grow enough cotton to produce your favorite denim. How many pairs do you have in your closet?
- Cotton T-shirt: 400 gallons goes into growing the cotton for an ordinary tee.
- Barrel of Beer: 1,500 gallons of water are used to process 32 gallons of beer!
- To-Go Latte: It takes 53 gallons to make your morning (or afternoon!) latte – and that’s just the drink itself. Factor in any flavoring, sugar, lid, cup, sleeve, etc. and you could have yourself quite the water footprint.
And Treehugger has the skinny on how much water it takes to grow all of our food. I guess we could all use to go on a water diet… I know this is just one more thing to think about when you are at the grocery store, buying your tall-extra hot-no foam-blah blah blah latte or shopping for a new pair of jeans, but I hope the numbers inspire at least the smallest change. It’s a drop in the bucket, but everything helps.
sarahblanchard
meganhilfer
lauravanderpool
laurenswezey
krispendleton
