3 thoughtful ways to conserve water | Lana Mazahreh
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2018
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
According to the UN, nearly one in three people worldwide live in a country facing a water crisis, and less than five percent of the world lives in a country that has more water today than it did 20 years ago. Lana Mazahreh grew up in Jordan, a state that has experienced absolute water scarcity since 1973, where she learned how to conserve water as soon as she was old enough to learn how to write her name. In this practical talk, she shares three lessons from water-poor countries on how to save water and address what's fast becoming a global crisis.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This TED Talk features water conservation activist Lana Mazara, recorded live at TED at BCG 2017. |
| 0:10.5 | In March 2017, the mayor of Cape Town officially declared Cape Town a local disaster, as it had less than four months left of usable water. |
| 0:25.6 | Residents were restricted to 100 liters of water per person per day. But what does that really mean? |
| 0:27.6 | With 100 liters of water per day, |
| 0:30.6 | you can take a five-minute shower, |
| 0:32.6 | wash your face twice, |
| 0:34.6 | and probably flush the toilet about five times. |
| 0:39.0 | You still didn't brush your teeth. |
| 0:41.8 | You didn't do laundry, |
| 0:43.7 | and you definitely didn't water your plants. |
| 0:47.6 | You unfortunately didn't wash your hands |
| 0:49.4 | after those five toilet flushes, |
| 0:52.0 | and you didn't even take a sip of water. |
| 0:57.5 | The mayor described this as that it means a new relationship with water. |
| 1:04.6 | Today, seven months later, I can share two things about my second home with you. |
| 1:09.1 | First, Cape Town hasn't run out of water just yet, |
| 1:12.7 | but as of September 3rd, the 100-liter limit dropped to 87 liters. The mayor defined the city's |
| 1:19.9 | new normal as one of permanent drought. Second, what's happening in Cape Town is pretty much |
| 1:27.4 | coming to many other cities and countries |
| 1:29.1 | in the world. |
| 1:31.7 | According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, excluding countries |
| 1:35.7 | that we don't have data for, less than 5% of the world's population is living in a country |
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