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BHS TAP Challenge Day 1: Our Water SecurityWelcome to Day 1 of the TAP Challenge!
Thanks for supporting our efforts to reduce plastic waste, educate about water security, and improve water access in our Sister City in Nicaragua.
Let's start our challenge off right: with a dad joke!
Every time I take a drink from my (non-plastic) water bottle, it pours back on me.
It must be spring water! (Badum-ching!)
Now that we have that fantastic joke out of the way, let's hear some fun water-related facts.
Here in Eastern MA, we have some of the best water in the world! The Quabbin Reservoir supplies Eastern Massachusetts and the MWRA with high-quality water that is rigorously tested every day—as in many municipal systems. Did you know that the Quabbin was created when four towns were evacuated, then flooded? On April 28, 1938, the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott no longer legally existed in order to serve the growing Boston metro area (read more here).
Despite its dubious start, the MWRA has won the best-tasting water in New England twice in the last decade. Nothing more scrumptious than some tasty Quabbin Reservoir water! (#WeLoveTheQuabbinReservoir) So, if our TAP water is so good, why do many of us still buy tons of bottled drinks every day?
We look forward to sharing a brief email (including a dad joke) with you each morning with information about water security and more, like how bottled “spring” water often comes from a tap in another municipality and is shipped using fossil fuels in plastic, how much of that plastic (even after efforts to recycle) are causing immense damage to marine life, and how communities like our Sister City don’t have regular access to safe TAP water.
Our campaign: Refrain from buying bottled drinks for 10 days—starting today—and use TAP water and reusable water bottles instead. And if you are able, divert the money you save and donate $10 (or more) to the Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Project at our Go Fund Me page. All donations support improving water infrastructure in Quezalguaque, Nicaragua. Be sure to check out the TAP website. And definitely follow us on Instagram.
The TAP Challenge is run by students in the Climate and Food Justice Club at Brookline High School. Are you up for the challenge?
Happy water drinking!
The TAP team
Thanks for supporting our efforts to reduce plastic waste, educate about water security, and improve water access in our Sister City in Nicaragua.
Let's start our challenge off right: with a dad joke!
Every time I take a drink from my (non-plastic) water bottle, it pours back on me.
It must be spring water! (Badum-ching!)
Now that we have that fantastic joke out of the way, let's hear some fun water-related facts.
Here in Eastern MA, we have some of the best water in the world! The Quabbin Reservoir supplies Eastern Massachusetts and the MWRA with high-quality water that is rigorously tested every day—as in many municipal systems. Did you know that the Quabbin was created when four towns were evacuated, then flooded? On April 28, 1938, the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott no longer legally existed in order to serve the growing Boston metro area (read more here).
Despite its dubious start, the MWRA has won the best-tasting water in New England twice in the last decade. Nothing more scrumptious than some tasty Quabbin Reservoir water! (#WeLoveTheQuabbinReservoir) So, if our TAP water is so good, why do many of us still buy tons of bottled drinks every day?
We look forward to sharing a brief email (including a dad joke) with you each morning with information about water security and more, like how bottled “spring” water often comes from a tap in another municipality and is shipped using fossil fuels in plastic, how much of that plastic (even after efforts to recycle) are causing immense damage to marine life, and how communities like our Sister City don’t have regular access to safe TAP water.
Our campaign: Refrain from buying bottled drinks for 10 days—starting today—and use TAP water and reusable water bottles instead. And if you are able, divert the money you save and donate $10 (or more) to the Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Project at our Go Fund Me page. All donations support improving water infrastructure in Quezalguaque, Nicaragua. Be sure to check out the TAP website. And definitely follow us on Instagram.
The TAP Challenge is run by students in the Climate and Food Justice Club at Brookline High School. Are you up for the challenge?
Happy water drinking!
The TAP team
TAP Challenge Day 2: PETROLEUM AND PLASTIC
Good morning! It’s Day 2 of the BHS TAP challenge!
With another day comes another hilarious joke!
I just opened my water bill and my electricity bill at the same time…I was shocked! (Badum-ching!)
And now, let's learn some stuff about plastics!
Did you know that it took between 32-54 million gallons of crude oil to create all the plastic bottles made in 2018? That is enough to fill 77 million car gas tanks! (Source: The independent, Common Dreams). For more information on plastic water bottle production and its impact, check out: The Water Footprint of Your Plastic.
As natural gas extraction in the United States expands, it has become cheaper to produce plastic here and more profitable to export disposable plastic to places where even less is recycled than in the United States. Also, plastic consumption is a driver of global heating!
Fossil fuel companies are rapidly developing capacity for plastic production as consumer demand for fossil fuels diminish due to a growing awareness about climate change (see Yale Environment 360). Do you see the irony there? Let’s do some roleplay to really understand it.
POV: you’re a fossil fuel company: “Wow, I see that people don’t want fossil fuels as much anymore because they’re killing the planet. Hm… what to do…. OH! I’ve got it! Let’s mass produce plastic that isn’t biodegradable and will probably end up in some poor turtle's intestines! Yes. This is the solution to climate change!”
To any of our lovely readers who are confused, that was very snarky sarcasm. In short: the fossil fuel industry pursues continued petroleum extraction to sell water in plastic as a lifeline.
Have you donated yet? If you have not yet donated $10 for clean water in our sister city, please visit this GoFundMe page. Remember to follow us on Instagram and please send us a picture with your reusable water bottle @bhstapchallenge.
Thanks for supporting us and have a fantastic plastic water bottle-free day!
The TAP Team
Good morning! It’s Day 2 of the BHS TAP challenge!
With another day comes another hilarious joke!
I just opened my water bill and my electricity bill at the same time…I was shocked! (Badum-ching!)
And now, let's learn some stuff about plastics!
Did you know that it took between 32-54 million gallons of crude oil to create all the plastic bottles made in 2018? That is enough to fill 77 million car gas tanks! (Source: The independent, Common Dreams). For more information on plastic water bottle production and its impact, check out: The Water Footprint of Your Plastic.
As natural gas extraction in the United States expands, it has become cheaper to produce plastic here and more profitable to export disposable plastic to places where even less is recycled than in the United States. Also, plastic consumption is a driver of global heating!
Fossil fuel companies are rapidly developing capacity for plastic production as consumer demand for fossil fuels diminish due to a growing awareness about climate change (see Yale Environment 360). Do you see the irony there? Let’s do some roleplay to really understand it.
POV: you’re a fossil fuel company: “Wow, I see that people don’t want fossil fuels as much anymore because they’re killing the planet. Hm… what to do…. OH! I’ve got it! Let’s mass produce plastic that isn’t biodegradable and will probably end up in some poor turtle's intestines! Yes. This is the solution to climate change!”
To any of our lovely readers who are confused, that was very snarky sarcasm. In short: the fossil fuel industry pursues continued petroleum extraction to sell water in plastic as a lifeline.
Have you donated yet? If you have not yet donated $10 for clean water in our sister city, please visit this GoFundMe page. Remember to follow us on Instagram and please send us a picture with your reusable water bottle @bhstapchallenge.
Thanks for supporting us and have a fantastic plastic water bottle-free day!
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge Day 3: SINGLE USE PLASTIC BOTTLES
Hey there! It’s Day 3 of the BHS TAP challenge!
Did you know that 500 BILLION plastic water bottles are bought around the world every single year? I know, it's insane. But you can help reduce this number by choosing to drink TAP water instead of water from plastic bottles! This will not only save you money, but it’ll reduce your negative environmental impact at the same time! Look at you go! Even with the availability of recycling, most plastic is not recycled, and in coastal communities (like ours), a significant amount of that plastic ends up in the ocean.
To celebrate your amazing decision to choose TAP, here’s a real knee-slapper!
Just a friendly reminder that we are trying to raise $5000 dollars for our sister city in Quezalguaque, Nicaragua to have clean water; while we work to reduce BHS plastic usage. Have you donated yet? If you have not yet donated $10 for clean water in our Sister City, please visit this GoFundMe page.
Remember to follow us on Instagram and please send us a picture with your reusable water bottle @bhstapchallenge. Thanks for supporting us and we hope you have a fabulous plastic bottle free-day.
The TAP Team
Hey there! It’s Day 3 of the BHS TAP challenge!
Did you know that 500 BILLION plastic water bottles are bought around the world every single year? I know, it's insane. But you can help reduce this number by choosing to drink TAP water instead of water from plastic bottles! This will not only save you money, but it’ll reduce your negative environmental impact at the same time! Look at you go! Even with the availability of recycling, most plastic is not recycled, and in coastal communities (like ours), a significant amount of that plastic ends up in the ocean.
To celebrate your amazing decision to choose TAP, here’s a real knee-slapper!
- What did the river say when it saw the beaver?
- Well, I’ll be dammed! (Badum-ching!)
Just a friendly reminder that we are trying to raise $5000 dollars for our sister city in Quezalguaque, Nicaragua to have clean water; while we work to reduce BHS plastic usage. Have you donated yet? If you have not yet donated $10 for clean water in our Sister City, please visit this GoFundMe page.
Remember to follow us on Instagram and please send us a picture with your reusable water bottle @bhstapchallenge. Thanks for supporting us and we hope you have a fabulous plastic bottle free-day.
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge Day 4: Racial Disparities in Water SanitizationWelcome to Day 4 of the TAP challenge! Want to hear a pretty awesome fact?
Combined, your commitment to the TAP challenge has already kept hundreds of plastic bottles out of the waste stream and ocean!
Pat yourself on the back; you should be proud! The only thing that could improve this happy spirit is a goofy joke!
The United States is a wealthy country where only a small number of people do not have convenient access to a regular water source. However, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where water systems violate safety rules according to data from the EPA. As with most environmental issues, toxic water is concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color. Americans learned about this during the Flint, Michigan water crisis several years ago.
In April, 2014, despite concerns expressed by the Flint Water Treatment Plant staff over old pipes and water quality, the City of Flint, Michigan changed its water source to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. City officials failed to use anti-corrosion measures to reduce the amount of lead leaching into the water supply. Immediately after the switch, residents began reporting to local, state, and EPA officials that the water was discolored and causing health issues, including rashes. Residents of Flint were forced to use bottled water to avoid illness from contaminated water.
Learn more about the Flint water crisis here (NRDC).
Decades of mining have polluted water resources on Indigenous lands. According to the Guardian, “an estimated 75% of residents on the Hopi reservation are forced to use drinking water laced with arsenic, which poses serious health risks including cancers and birth defects.” Residents who must purchase bottled water spend astronomically more than tap water consumers, and generate a much bigger ‘water footprint.’ But this isn’t their choice. Their options are to drink literal poison, or buy bottled water. However, here in eastern Massachusetts, we’re lucky enough that that isn’t true. So let’s choose the TAP.
Even though a goal of the TAP challenge is to reduce the use of bottled water, we cannot ignore its importance to environmental justice communities. We can see that racial injustice is a driver of plastic consumption and waste.
Here in Eastern Massachusetts, we have some of the cleanest water in the world, coming from the Quabbin Reservoir (#WeLoveTheQuabbinReservoir). Still, many of us buy bottled water. Don’t be that guy!
If you are able, divert the money you save using TAP water for 10 days, and donate $10 (or more) to the Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Project at our Go Fund Me page. Purchase a sleek metal TAP water bottle here. All donations support improving water infrastructure in Quezalguaque, Nicaragua.
Remember to follow us on Instagram and please send us a picture with your reusable water bottle @bhstapchallenge.
Thanks for supporting us and we hope you have a great plastic water bottle free day!
The TAP Team
Combined, your commitment to the TAP challenge has already kept hundreds of plastic bottles out of the waste stream and ocean!
Pat yourself on the back; you should be proud! The only thing that could improve this happy spirit is a goofy joke!
- How do you make a water bed more bouncy?
- You use spring water! (Badum-ching!)
The United States is a wealthy country where only a small number of people do not have convenient access to a regular water source. However, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where water systems violate safety rules according to data from the EPA. As with most environmental issues, toxic water is concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color. Americans learned about this during the Flint, Michigan water crisis several years ago.
In April, 2014, despite concerns expressed by the Flint Water Treatment Plant staff over old pipes and water quality, the City of Flint, Michigan changed its water source to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. City officials failed to use anti-corrosion measures to reduce the amount of lead leaching into the water supply. Immediately after the switch, residents began reporting to local, state, and EPA officials that the water was discolored and causing health issues, including rashes. Residents of Flint were forced to use bottled water to avoid illness from contaminated water.
Learn more about the Flint water crisis here (NRDC).
Decades of mining have polluted water resources on Indigenous lands. According to the Guardian, “an estimated 75% of residents on the Hopi reservation are forced to use drinking water laced with arsenic, which poses serious health risks including cancers and birth defects.” Residents who must purchase bottled water spend astronomically more than tap water consumers, and generate a much bigger ‘water footprint.’ But this isn’t their choice. Their options are to drink literal poison, or buy bottled water. However, here in eastern Massachusetts, we’re lucky enough that that isn’t true. So let’s choose the TAP.
Even though a goal of the TAP challenge is to reduce the use of bottled water, we cannot ignore its importance to environmental justice communities. We can see that racial injustice is a driver of plastic consumption and waste.
Here in Eastern Massachusetts, we have some of the cleanest water in the world, coming from the Quabbin Reservoir (#WeLoveTheQuabbinReservoir). Still, many of us buy bottled water. Don’t be that guy!
If you are able, divert the money you save using TAP water for 10 days, and donate $10 (or more) to the Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Project at our Go Fund Me page. Purchase a sleek metal TAP water bottle here. All donations support improving water infrastructure in Quezalguaque, Nicaragua.
Remember to follow us on Instagram and please send us a picture with your reusable water bottle @bhstapchallenge.
Thanks for supporting us and we hope you have a great plastic water bottle free day!
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge Day 5: WHO OWNS THE TAP?
Welcome to Day 5 of the TAP Challenge!
Guess what time it is….. it's ‘dad’ joke o’clock!!!
When you purchase bottled water, you have likely purchased a public resource, repackaged to deliver big profits for large corporations. Get ready for some name dropping.
Think about it: companies like Nestle Water, a “healthy hydration company” that owns Poland Spring, use fossil fuels to truck water from a local source to another region of the country that has its own source of clean and safe TAP water! What a waste of energy! Plastic bottles, made from additional petroleum, are then taken home (often in additional plastic packaging). Imagine the carbon footprint of shipping water, especially water shipped from Fiji. Constantly buying plastic water bottles is quite costly!
Drinking from the TAP is not only environmentally friendly, but also hundreds of times cheaper than bottled water. Aren’t you glad you’re drinking from a TAP?
A sustainable BHS should not sell bottled water or rely on Poland Spring to replace our TAP water.
Check out this awesome documentary on water and plastics! Watch the Trailer for Tapped!
And if you can, please donate $10 (or more) that you would have spent on water to our Nicaraguan Sister City’s clean water project (GoFundMe).
Have an awesome plastic water bottle free day!
The TAP Team
Welcome to Day 5 of the TAP Challenge!
Guess what time it is….. it's ‘dad’ joke o’clock!!!
- What do you call a computer that's been tossed in the ocean? (tsk tsk, pollution)
- Adele, rolling in the deep! (Badum-ching!) That one might be a personal favorite. Shout out to any and all Adele fans reading this.
When you purchase bottled water, you have likely purchased a public resource, repackaged to deliver big profits for large corporations. Get ready for some name dropping.
Think about it: companies like Nestle Water, a “healthy hydration company” that owns Poland Spring, use fossil fuels to truck water from a local source to another region of the country that has its own source of clean and safe TAP water! What a waste of energy! Plastic bottles, made from additional petroleum, are then taken home (often in additional plastic packaging). Imagine the carbon footprint of shipping water, especially water shipped from Fiji. Constantly buying plastic water bottles is quite costly!
Drinking from the TAP is not only environmentally friendly, but also hundreds of times cheaper than bottled water. Aren’t you glad you’re drinking from a TAP?
A sustainable BHS should not sell bottled water or rely on Poland Spring to replace our TAP water.
Check out this awesome documentary on water and plastics! Watch the Trailer for Tapped!
And if you can, please donate $10 (or more) that you would have spent on water to our Nicaraguan Sister City’s clean water project (GoFundMe).
Have an awesome plastic water bottle free day!
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge day 6: OCEAN PLASTIC (SAVE THE TURTLES?)
It’s Day 6 of the BHS TAP challenge! Congrats on making it this far!
You’ve already removed 5 plastic bottles out of the waste stream! “But TAP Team, does that even matter?” Hey! Don’t be a negative Nancy (no offense to Nancys reading this). You’ve done more than you know! Read on and find out how…
On average Americans purchase 315 plastic water bottles annually. Globally we buy a million plastic bottles per minute.
Woah. Pause. What???? That’s a LOT of plastic bottles! Let’s add some zeroes to really appreciate that. 1,000,000 plastic bottles are purchased EVERY MINUTE!
Only 9% of plastic is recycled worldwide—many of the purchased plastic water bottles end up in the ocean even after a consumer intended to recycle that bottle. 8 million tons of plastic migrate to the ocean every year.
Plastic water bottles are often made from polyethylene terephthalate (Pet — don’t let the adorable name fool you, it’s a devious one). Pet may take up to 400 years to naturally decompose, and every 1 liter of bottled water requires at least another two liters of water to produce the bottle. That doesn’t figure out quite right, does it?
In the ocean, sun, salt, and currents break down our water bottles into microplastics, which are present inside of plankton and other marine life. The microplastics make their way up the food chain when bigger fish eat the plankton. More than 60% of the world’s population depends on fish for their primary protein source--many of us will eventually eat the plastic bottles that we used one time to hydrate us. You hear that? It's not just about saving the turtles, it's about saving ourselves!
Let’s both take a moment to appreciate the amazing TAP water we have at our disposal. We are so lucky. We can get safe, clean water without harming our lovely Earth! #WeLoveTheQuabbinResevoir!
So, lovely reader, even those 6 days without plastic bottles have made a difference. And we’re barely halfway done!
If you’re interested in learning more: Recycling is not magic: it does not make plastic disappear, especially when it creates an unnecessary carbon footprint (see this short NY Times video about how little plastic is recycled). We recommend this episode of “How to Save a Planet” podcast which explains the complexity of recycling plastics (begin with 29:00 remaining).
Please donate $10 to our Nicaraguan Sister City’s clean water project (GoFundMe). We are just over ⅕ of the way towards our fundraising goal—$5000 will make a significant impact in Quezalguaque where they are work to improve water access with solar power. We need your added support, please.
Don't think you got off without a facepalm-worthy dad joke!
Thanks for supporting us and have an out-of-this-world plastic water bottle-free day!
The TAP Team
It’s Day 6 of the BHS TAP challenge! Congrats on making it this far!
You’ve already removed 5 plastic bottles out of the waste stream! “But TAP Team, does that even matter?” Hey! Don’t be a negative Nancy (no offense to Nancys reading this). You’ve done more than you know! Read on and find out how…
On average Americans purchase 315 plastic water bottles annually. Globally we buy a million plastic bottles per minute.
Woah. Pause. What???? That’s a LOT of plastic bottles! Let’s add some zeroes to really appreciate that. 1,000,000 plastic bottles are purchased EVERY MINUTE!
Only 9% of plastic is recycled worldwide—many of the purchased plastic water bottles end up in the ocean even after a consumer intended to recycle that bottle. 8 million tons of plastic migrate to the ocean every year.
Plastic water bottles are often made from polyethylene terephthalate (Pet — don’t let the adorable name fool you, it’s a devious one). Pet may take up to 400 years to naturally decompose, and every 1 liter of bottled water requires at least another two liters of water to produce the bottle. That doesn’t figure out quite right, does it?
In the ocean, sun, salt, and currents break down our water bottles into microplastics, which are present inside of plankton and other marine life. The microplastics make their way up the food chain when bigger fish eat the plankton. More than 60% of the world’s population depends on fish for their primary protein source--many of us will eventually eat the plastic bottles that we used one time to hydrate us. You hear that? It's not just about saving the turtles, it's about saving ourselves!
Let’s both take a moment to appreciate the amazing TAP water we have at our disposal. We are so lucky. We can get safe, clean water without harming our lovely Earth! #WeLoveTheQuabbinResevoir!
So, lovely reader, even those 6 days without plastic bottles have made a difference. And we’re barely halfway done!
If you’re interested in learning more: Recycling is not magic: it does not make plastic disappear, especially when it creates an unnecessary carbon footprint (see this short NY Times video about how little plastic is recycled). We recommend this episode of “How to Save a Planet” podcast which explains the complexity of recycling plastics (begin with 29:00 remaining).
Please donate $10 to our Nicaraguan Sister City’s clean water project (GoFundMe). We are just over ⅕ of the way towards our fundraising goal—$5000 will make a significant impact in Quezalguaque where they are work to improve water access with solar power. We need your added support, please.
Don't think you got off without a facepalm-worthy dad joke!
- Where does a mansplainer get their water?
- A “Well, actually…” (Badum-ching!)
Thanks for supporting us and have an out-of-this-world plastic water bottle-free day!
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge day 7: QUEZALGUAQUE WATER
It’s Day 7 of the BHS TAP challenge! Your reward for getting this far is another fresh water related joke!
Brookline’s Sister City, Queazalguaque, Nicaragua has a population of about 8,000 people where “unsafe water is one of several factors thought to be related to chronic renal insufficiency [kidney disease], along with dehydration, exposure to extreme heat and others” (BQSP). Furthermore, many waterborne diseases are caused by drinking contaminated or dirty water including diarrheal diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and amoebiasis. None of those are pleasant. At all.
Microbial contamination has been found in 4 of 12 wells in Quezalguaque. That’s a third of their wells! Water tanks lack sanitary seals and the chlorination system is in desperate need of improvement.
The BHS TAP Water Challenge aims to raise money to support improvements to Quezalgauque’s water system. You can donate to our sister city here. We hope to reach our goal of $5000 and are not yet half way there.
Thanks for supporting us and have an excellent plastic water bottle free day. Remember to follow us on Instagram @bhstapchallenge to get more updates and fun facts (and maybe, if I get my way, more jokes :D )
The TAP Team
It’s Day 7 of the BHS TAP challenge! Your reward for getting this far is another fresh water related joke!
- The TAP Team told me to stop writing such terrible water jokes into these emails.
- I said, “Shore! No problem! I’ll sea you later!” (Badum-ching!)
Brookline’s Sister City, Queazalguaque, Nicaragua has a population of about 8,000 people where “unsafe water is one of several factors thought to be related to chronic renal insufficiency [kidney disease], along with dehydration, exposure to extreme heat and others” (BQSP). Furthermore, many waterborne diseases are caused by drinking contaminated or dirty water including diarrheal diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and amoebiasis. None of those are pleasant. At all.
Microbial contamination has been found in 4 of 12 wells in Quezalguaque. That’s a third of their wells! Water tanks lack sanitary seals and the chlorination system is in desperate need of improvement.
The BHS TAP Water Challenge aims to raise money to support improvements to Quezalgauque’s water system. You can donate to our sister city here. We hope to reach our goal of $5000 and are not yet half way there.
Thanks for supporting us and have an excellent plastic water bottle free day. Remember to follow us on Instagram @bhstapchallenge to get more updates and fun facts (and maybe, if I get my way, more jokes :D )
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge day 8: Is Quezalguaque water potable?
It’s Day 8 of the BHS TAP challenge!
Time for our daily dad joke! We continue with our marine theme:
Now let's dive into some facts about water!
Did you know that 785 Million people worldwide lack clean water close to home? While this number has decreased in recent years (wahoo! progress!), this still means 11% of the world population is at high risk for waterborne disease that can be fatal.
In households that must travel to access drinking water, typically girls and young women do that grueling work. This task may even prevent them from attending school. In Nicaragua, only about 60% of the rural population has access to basic water services and sanitation.
Please donate $10 to our Nicaraguan Sister City’s clean water project (GoFundMe). We need help reaching our $5000 goal! (Two days left!)
Remember to follow us on Instagram @bhstapchallenge to get more updates and fun facts!
Thanks for supporting us and have a superb plastic water bottle free day. And you can find daily blasts that you missed here.
The TAP Team
It’s Day 8 of the BHS TAP challenge!
Time for our daily dad joke! We continue with our marine theme:
- What keeps a dock floating above water?
- Pier pressure! (Badum-ching!)
Now let's dive into some facts about water!
Did you know that 785 Million people worldwide lack clean water close to home? While this number has decreased in recent years (wahoo! progress!), this still means 11% of the world population is at high risk for waterborne disease that can be fatal.
In households that must travel to access drinking water, typically girls and young women do that grueling work. This task may even prevent them from attending school. In Nicaragua, only about 60% of the rural population has access to basic water services and sanitation.
Please donate $10 to our Nicaraguan Sister City’s clean water project (GoFundMe). We need help reaching our $5000 goal! (Two days left!)
Remember to follow us on Instagram @bhstapchallenge to get more updates and fun facts!
Thanks for supporting us and have a superb plastic water bottle free day. And you can find daily blasts that you missed here.
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge day 9: THE PLASTIC VORTEX
It’s Day 9 of the TAP challenge! Almost done!
You knew it was coming… it's time for a dad joke! This one is for any and all chem students out there.
Now, let's submerge ourselves in some not-so-fun facts about our oceans.
Did you know that there is a massive garbage patch in the Pacific ocean, and that plastic could take hundreds of years to degrade? Even if we completely stopped using plastics this very second, there would still be huge amounts of plastic degrading well into the twenty-sixth century. Our great-great-great-many-more-greats-great grandchildren could pick up the remains of your plastic straw. That is not the type of artifact we want to leave around for future generations.
In previous emails, we’ve discussed how much of your single use plastic winds up in the ocean, and how it harms sea creatures and ocean vegetation. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean, a vortex of spinning waste (mostly plastic) where water from the South Pacific encounters the cooler water from the Arctic, trapping ocean plastic. It’s like an evil plastic tornado, and it doesn’t even take us away from Kansas!
“Most debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is plastic. Plastic is not biodegradable, meaning it does not disintegrate—it simply breaks into tinier and tinier pieces, known as microplastics” (National Geographic). This giant marine garbage clump--which is larger than Alaska—floats atop a much bigger heap: the 70% that sinks to the bottom. Microplastics of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch make the water look like a cloudy soup. NOAA estimates that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up 1% of the patch. This is a massive, massive dump of plastic. Let’s work together to prevent it from growing.
On behalf of the entire TAP Team, I want to thank you. For the last 9 days you have made a conscious effort to make the world a better place, and you haven't contributed to Garbage Patches. You’re helping to save our oceans!
If you have not yet donated $10 for clean water in our Sister City, please visit this GoFundMe page. Remember to follow us on Instagram @bhstapchallenge to get more updates and fun facts (and maybe even some jokes!).
Thanks for your support, have an incredible plastic free day!
The TAP Team
It’s Day 9 of the TAP challenge! Almost done!
You knew it was coming… it's time for a dad joke! This one is for any and all chem students out there.
- What did the water say to the spy?
- The name's bond. Hydrogen bond. (Badum-ching!) (I wrote this email instead of doing my chem homework, so this joke really spoke to me.)
Now, let's submerge ourselves in some not-so-fun facts about our oceans.
Did you know that there is a massive garbage patch in the Pacific ocean, and that plastic could take hundreds of years to degrade? Even if we completely stopped using plastics this very second, there would still be huge amounts of plastic degrading well into the twenty-sixth century. Our great-great-great-many-more-greats-great grandchildren could pick up the remains of your plastic straw. That is not the type of artifact we want to leave around for future generations.
In previous emails, we’ve discussed how much of your single use plastic winds up in the ocean, and how it harms sea creatures and ocean vegetation. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean, a vortex of spinning waste (mostly plastic) where water from the South Pacific encounters the cooler water from the Arctic, trapping ocean plastic. It’s like an evil plastic tornado, and it doesn’t even take us away from Kansas!
“Most debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is plastic. Plastic is not biodegradable, meaning it does not disintegrate—it simply breaks into tinier and tinier pieces, known as microplastics” (National Geographic). This giant marine garbage clump--which is larger than Alaska—floats atop a much bigger heap: the 70% that sinks to the bottom. Microplastics of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch make the water look like a cloudy soup. NOAA estimates that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up 1% of the patch. This is a massive, massive dump of plastic. Let’s work together to prevent it from growing.
On behalf of the entire TAP Team, I want to thank you. For the last 9 days you have made a conscious effort to make the world a better place, and you haven't contributed to Garbage Patches. You’re helping to save our oceans!
If you have not yet donated $10 for clean water in our Sister City, please visit this GoFundMe page. Remember to follow us on Instagram @bhstapchallenge to get more updates and fun facts (and maybe even some jokes!).
Thanks for your support, have an incredible plastic free day!
The TAP Team
TAP Challenge day 10: