November 13th, 2018

By Shawn Shahin, Living Classroom Program Director, Palo Alto Unified School District

On Monday 11/5,  Living Classroom docents and staff participated in a California Water Workshop presented by former Living Classroom Program Assistant Janet Hedley, and her amazing team from the Santa Clara Valley Water District!  The workshop included three informative and engaging activities that are part of the water district's outreach curriculum:  Discover California, H2O on the Go, and Hidden Water.  Did you know that your water footprint includes what you eat, what you buy, and what you use?  Check out how much water is needed to create each of the following items!
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• 1 cotton t-shirt = 660 gallons
• 1 bottle of soda = 46 gallons
• 1 plastic water bottle (17 oz.) = 1.5 gallons
• 1 pair of jeans = 2,000 gallons
• 1 pound of bananas = 102 gallons
• 1 pound of beef = 2,000-5,000 gallons
• 1 small bag of potato chips (1.5 oz.) = 40 gallons

What can you do to help conserve water?  Here are a few suggestions...Eat lower on the food chain, use reusable water bottles instead of plastic water bottles, purchase clothing from secondhand stores, and buy large bags of chips and package them yourself in reusable containers.

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