EarthFirst Blog Week in Review March 17 - 21

Well we are just shooting up faster than Bio-tech corn here at EarthFirst! We’ve added a bunch of hot new writers (Professor Scott Herring and token Swede Anders Porter) and features (Mr. Cranky Green!) and are getting more hits than Tony Soprano during tax season. We’ve covered Green Fire Works, a terrifying robotic pack mule, and celebrated World Water Day like eco-rockstars! We also have two EarthFirst birthdays coming up under the Aries symbol; our wide-eyed editorial intern and writer Caroline turns 23 on the 28th and our fearless leader Jordan will rock out on the 27th when he turns…old. Yippee-Ki-Yay!

• Q&A With Mr. Cranky Green: Send Us Your Questions!!!!!
• Five Killer Bug Swarms to Avoid If You Can
• Uh…What’s That Green Shit… On Your…Head?
• No More Eco-Guilt on July 4th- Chemists Developing Green Fireworks
• Watch Five Hours of Cable News, Get One Minute of Environmental or Science Coverage
• This Day in Green History: March 18th, 1974- Arab Nations End Oil Embargo
• The March of Incompetence: Climate Change Denier James Inhofe Also Hates the Troops
• If We Can Build BigDog, We Can Engineer a Green Society
• Hulu Opens to the Public with Three Green Video Shows
• New See-Saw Technology Harnesses The Power of Children
• The Eco Drop Shower Invites Pain Into Your Daily Routine
• Weeds Season Three Coming Out in Green (Legal) DVD Packaging
• Hospitals Are Saving Millions and Reducing Their Landfill Load By Reusing Single Use Medical Devices
• Heidi Fleiss is Opening The Greenest Little Man-Whorehouse in Vegas
• Solar-Powered Boat Does Not Come With Sexy Mannequins
• Getting High: Climbing the Tallest Red Wood Tree in the World
• Green Extreme Sports: Paddling Across the Atlantic in a 23 Foot Coffin (Kayak)
• BBC Puts Reality TV Show Stars Out With the Trash- Literally
• The Green Bohemian Grove- Richard Branson Hosts Meeting of Green Gurus on His Private Tropical Island
• The Oracle of Omaha Loves Him Some Railroad Stocks
• Guy Kawasaki Wants to Invent 500 MPG Car But Fears Valleywag and TechCrunch Won’t Like It
• Inventor of Virtual Water Honored by Stockholm International Water Institute, Wins 150 Large

Inventor of Virtual Water Honored by Stockholm International Water Institute, Wins 150 Large

Anthony Allan, a professor at King’s College in London, was recently honored by the Stockholm International Water Institute for his contributions to water research (the honor is no joke: they gave him $150,000). He was recognized for inventing the concept of “virtual water” back in 1993. This concept has revolutionized the way people think about water consumption and it’s worth pausing on this occasion to give it some attention.

Basically, virtual water refers to the water required to produce a commodity. A famous example is a cup of coffee; the process of making that single cup actually requires 140 liters of water (about 37 gallons) to grow and ship the beans. A single hamburger requires 2,400 liters, a beer about 75 liters, and wheat takes 1,300 liters to make 2.2 pounds.

Allan explained, “The water is said to be virtual because once the wheat is grown, the real water used to grow it is no longer actually contained in the wheat. The concept of virtual water helps us realize how much water is needed to produce different goods and services. In semi-arid and arid areas, knowing the virtual water value of a good or service can be useful towards determining how best to use the scarce water available.”

The term “virtual water”–just the term–has always sounded wrong to me, like the water in a video game (Rollercoaster Tycoon, maybe). The water that the term refers to is real enough; it’s simply not physically there with the final commodity. It is sometimes, therefore, called “hidden water” or “embedded water.” But that’s just a problem with the term. The concept itself is essential.

Link [The Raw Story]

Photo Credit: Flickr User Laszlo