A Drop In The Ocean

I don’t know about you but it isn’t always easy having a heart big enough for every world issue.

Don’t some problems seem just a little remote compared with those on our doorstep?

It was that way for us with water. With the wettest valley in England on our doorstep, it’s easy for us to take water for granted.

So it’s sometimes hard to get our heads round a possible future water crisis. But that’s what we’ve sought to do after reading about the reality of water shortage.

I mean, did you know - we didn’t - that 97% of the earth’s water is sea water?

And that just six countries contain half the world’s renewable fresh water supplies?

Diminishing supplies of fresh water are set to cause increasing problems for our world.


Photo courtesy of ashitparikh

Good, then, to see the global water issue getting wider coverage, thanks to a clown. We refer to a recent broadcast transmitted from space. No, we’re not joking. Check it out.

It was broadcast by Guy Laliberte, Founder of Circue Du Soleil and the ONE DROP Foundation.

Laliberte spent $35 million dollars of his own money on being launched to the stars. I know, I know, it is a lot of money. But he is one of the world’s top 100 Entrepreneurs and it’s his cash at the end of the day.

While orbiting earth, Laliberte broadcast a two-hour presentation on the water issue, featuring mates Bono and Al Gore. This must be one of the major internet events of our time. And all to educate and inform the world about water shortage.

Now, much of our business is in bags. But since we moved from the city to the Lakes, we’ve been taking a fresh look at our lives and how we can make more informed choices.

The big question with water is - what can you or I do on a daily level to make any difference? What follows is one modest suggestion.

We were shocked to learn that 200 billion litres of mineral water is sold in plastic bottles each year. That’s a lot of bottles. And only one in five is ever recycled. The rest ends up in landfills and out at sea. Then there’s the amount of water used in producing bottled water - it turns out 2000 times more ‘virtual water’ energy than in production of tap water.

So when we’d finished designing our bags, it seemed the moment to launch a re-usable bottle. Out with those endless plastic bottles of mineral water we bought while travelling the length and breadth of the country. In with tap water in friends Simon and Andy.

Reusable bottles that can be refilled on the go.

It’s a humble start. But it feels a positive step.

And after all, given the rain levels in Borrowdale, we’d hardly know what to do with a hosepipe ban.