Two Bucket Challenge for Tokelau and Tuvalu

Join us this week or next to live off only 2 buckets of water (20 litres) for your personal use. One day in solidarity with the people to Tokelau, Tuvalu and other parts of the Pacific.

 

Why?

Tuvalu and Tokelau have recently run out of water and entered into States of Emergency. That makes life in Tuvalu very difficult. With severe water rations of 40 litres per day per household of 6-9 people, basic water needs are only just being met.

Experts say the past 12 months have been the second driest in Funafuti's 78 years of records. While we do not make any claims to the water crises being solely a climate change related event, the reality is that the line between what is normal climatic variation and what might be extremes resulting from accelerated climate change is being blurred. And unless we act globally to reduce emissions now, water scarcity will become the new normal for the Pacific region. If anything, this is a wake-up call for the world to get moving toward what scientists tell us is the safe limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, 350 parts per million. And that will take New Zealand, Australia and other big emitters doing more than just slapping on a band-aid for emergency relief.

 

What is the challenge?

On whichever day you choose to do this solidarity challenge, everytime you use your precious reserves we want you to facebook or tweet about it to raise awareness about the lack of water in Tuvalu and Tokelau in the Pacific and the need for 350 parts per million. Join in by visiting our facebook page Two Bucket Challenge for Tuvalu and Tokelau and when you're tweeting, use the hashtags: #2buckets and #350ppm

 

So while this one day might be a challenge, think about our friends in the Pacific who face a lifetime of water shortages and further consequences of climate change.

Join us and send out an email blast to friends, write a blog post, perform a rain dance if you want to, and talk, talk, talk to as many people as you can about your experience... and err, the difficulties you face on the challenge of living on just 2 buckets of water for a day (or longer if you want!).

This challenge is really up to you. You might think 20 litres is too much, so why not limit it. You might find it too challenging to go without the loo (especially at work!), so maybe just give yourself a few litres of water for drinking and cleaning instead. You set the rules. We are aware living off 20 litres might seem easy - if you go camping for a day you might only need a few litres, but imagine what this would be like if it was your reality for months on end. Not to mention how much water is needed to grow our food - when eating an apple requires 70 litres of water!

Whether or not you're not keen to try the challenge, please take the time to sign our petition and share it around so we can keep the pressure on our leaders to enact the solutions we need.

Read a blog post from a 350 organiser in Tuvalu

With severe water rations of 40 litres per day per household of 6 to 9 people, basic water needs are only just being met...We know that the reality for the Pacific region is that there will only be more water emergencies popping up as the climate continues to warm...Will we have enough band-aids to go around?"--Read more from Redina in her blog post here.

+ Do you know how much water you are using?

If you're ready to take the challenge, bare in mind that on the day you will have to work out how you will limit your water usage to 20 liters - so here are some helpful and possibly alarming facts about NZ average water consumption to help you work it out...

  • The average NZ household uses about 162 litres of water per person per day. So while 20 litres sounds like enough water, it's only 12% of average daily household use.

  • Our biggest personal use of water doesn't come from out of our taps at home. It's irrigation to grow our food. This is NZ's biggest water drain, followed by industrial use. If these are added in to the per capita figures the average water use is 82,000 litre, per person, per day.

  • 20-25% of water in an average household is flushed down the toilet. The average flush in NZ uses 6.4 litres of water. So if it's yellow...

  • An average shower head with mains pressure uses at least 12 litres of water per minute.

  • A running tap can send 14 litres of water down the drain every minute while a dripping tap can waste up to 90 litres of water a day.

You can check out tips on how to reduce your home water consumption here.

If you are keen to join us for a day of solidarity, a day of challenges, a day of conversation around water security and the impact of climate change - both in the Pacific and in your local neighbourhood, then we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at 350@350.org.nz with your name and when you plan to do the challenge. Or post it up on the 'Two Buckets' Facebook Page.

 

 

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