If a cartoon fish could encourage humans to conserve water what would he have us do? The obvious thing would be to turn off running faucets, but what else do we do that wastes water unnecessarily? What would have the biggest impact if we could get people to change it? Thanks in advance for any tips.
Amy Baxter MacDonald
Artist, Animator, Instructor
New England Institute of Art
United States
www.amybmacdonald.com
Animation
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If I had the option, I would get people to be aware of the water that is returning to the fish's habitat after it has been in a people environment. Either rural or urban areas that do not manage their runoff will contaminate the receiving waters. All those fertilizer and pesticides, as well as the used motor oil, paint and pet waste that goes into the storm sewers, or directly into the stream will impact that fish.
I direct you to the "Yellow Fish Road" program that is currently administered by Trout Unlimited.
Susan Ryan
Canada
Hi, Amy
Part of the question is what results do you want to obtain and what are the barriers that inhibit people from 'delivering' those results. A common assumption is that more information is the key--if the fish teaches a large enough quantity of the right facts, people will "do the right thing." This is only sometimes true.
Demonstrating the actual popularity of an action might be helpful in removing barriers. Publicizing recognized models (the mayor, a rock star) might do the trick, or part of it. If you were planning a campaign, you would want to research what the actual barriers were. If this is a class assignment, imagining and assigning barriers might be an informative strategy.
I can imagine 'Fred Fish-approved' yard watering practices, with You-Tube postings with a Fred cutout, an art contest sponsored by the fish, reminder stickers using the fish, discrete but fashionable fish lawn signs, animated interviews between fish and man-on-the-street or authority figures.
The entity sponsoring the campaign could be important. How do people respond to a campaign from the utility company, local government or a school?
As for topics, sweeping rather than hosing down a driveway, water conserving landscaping, street drains as possible pollution point sources, appropriate crops and ag practices, watering only on alternate days, use of devices such as low-flow showerheads, local use and return of water as suggested by Wayne, contaminant runoff as suggested by Susan.
Robert Rowell
educator
United States
I would have your fish focus on blatant overuse issues such as leaky irrigation systems, watering during the heat of the day, leaky faucets, etc. but I would have him focus more heavily on water QUALITY issues. The vast majority of surface waters and increasingly our groundwater is contaminated with excess sediments, fertilizers, pesticides & herbicides, motor oils, and harmful bacteria from leaking septic systems, CAFOs, etc. One relatively simple thing is for people to create better landscaped buffers around their homes to prevent runoff & erosion. They can also build swales, infiltration ponds, etc. to promote recharge of aquifers with all their roof water instead of sending that water rushing off into drainage ditches, gullies, or into overloaded sewage systems. Just a few ideas...
Rebecca Thistlethwaite
Environmental Coordinator
Lundberg Family Farms
United States
Here in Southern California some cities have partnered with Surfrider Foundation to promote "Ocean Friendly Gardens" which emphasize CPR or Conservation, Permeability and Retention for our landscapes. Essentially we are trying to encourage residents to look at water conservation and storm water runoff together. By creating "sponges" up the watershed we can mitigate much of the downstream pollution and recharge issues. Here is a link. http://www.surfrider.org/ofg.asp
Jill Sarick Santos
ES Coordinator
City of Ventura - Environmental Services Division
United States
www.venturasenvironment.com
Hi Amy.
You may find the animated film "Groundwater" inspiring. It promotes water conservation and protection in an engaging and humorous manner. See it here:
http://www.leapingmedia.com/groundwater.html
Nancy Webber
Program Development
Clean Nova Scotia
Canada
www.clean.ns.ca
Have you played Bert the Salmon's WaterBusters Game? http://www2.seattle.gov/util/waterbusters/
Seattle and King County have been using Bert for water conservation and water quality education for more than 10 years now.
Brett Stav
United States
I would answer this question in a different way--reducing optional, consumptive uses like lawn watering is important, but in the long run, using water is not the problem. Most people don't "use up" water. Most of the water used is returned to the environment. The problems come when the water return is far from the water withdrawal. Then connectivity of habitat is broken or even entire rivers are dessicated. As far as a fish is concerned, if water is used and returned in the same quantity, location and time, then it is not gone at all. I would encourage more local use and return of water, rather than not using water.
Wayne Ives
Instream Flow Specialist
NH Dept of Environmental Services
United States