Water advertising and sports…they’re still the perfect, hand-holding, snuggling couple at the promotion party!
This latest hookup involves the Olympics and Coca Cola’s Ice Dew (one of the leading bottled water brands in China) created by Bartle Bogle Hearty, Shanghai. The ad’s premise is that since humans are 60% water, Read more
Aqua Tube Toilet Paper Tube: photographed in grass because it’s “green”
Consider the fate of the common Toilet Paper Tube: destined to be violently ripped and separated from its Toilet Paper child whom it has cradled and supported since the day of TP’s birth manufacture. While TP flushes merrily downstream headed for the rapture of sustainable biodegradation, the Mother Tube is forgotten, abandoned, tossed…then forced to travel alone, void of greenness, to a dark and desolate landfill populated by despised, low-life non-recyclables.
Well, no more. Because THIS Tube is flushable. THIS Tube shall not be left behind, but shall be safely flushed with its beloved TP, where they can biodegrade and return to our earth naturally. Together.
Many thanks to Constance Ward at Thought Leader Zone, who found this Sustainable Curiosity in her Marseille, France lodgings while attending World Water Forum 6. Somehow she knew we’d like it!
Note: This item has not been deemed flushable by Pat and Dan. Also, since we Don’t Flush the Baby Wipes, should we flush the tubes?
Sustainable Curiosities and Novelties: In which we present the oddball, assorted knick-knacks, inventions and ideas for more sustainable Earth occupation by humankind. Or something like that. Submissions welcome, contact the Thirsty in Suburbia “Curator” here.
The poo poo problem continues unabated, and here’s a genuinely crappy infographic for all you visual learners out there! I’ll bet this was the assignment of a lifetime for some lucky graphic designer, and a review of the associated facts won’t hurt the rest of us either.
This fab graphic was submitted by Tony Shin and comes hardwired to some SEO scheme related to online nursing programs, but never mind, I still love it and consider it a fair trade to share such an awesome, informative graphic! Enjoy, but first let me highlight some personal favorite details:
We’re wastewater BFFs! Despite their deadly nature and bad attitude, these fellows still look pretty cute!
Content warning: Depressing, unfunny & negative diatribe. Regular programming resumes tomorrow.
Bleauh. I don’t feel so good! It’s that nasty #WWD hangover again!
So another World Water Day has come and gone. Each year I dread this day. I feel guilty because I SHOULD write somthing moving, thought-provoking and memorable. Raise some awareness! But I don’t. Why?
Because “awareness” is good, but meaningful action on a global scale is much more difficult. Because year to year, it seems the situation remains frustratingly the same…or even worse. Because it seems at times the problems are nearly insurmountable. Because rather than a slew of #water #wwd #whatever hash tags on one day, I’d rather see some perceptible results for the other 364.
So all of you who continue to work hard for #DAWWD (that’s “Days after World Water Day”), I am in awe of you, I salute you, I thank you. You are the people who someday may make World Water Day an event where progress is celebrated… and the day when I look forward to writing a hysterical, “remember when” post in this space.
In a classic country song there’s rarely just one misfortune; the bad luck and the soul crushers just keep piling on, like some kind of perverted torture sandwich. In the song Drought just when our hero is thinkin’ it can’t get any worse, what with his good woman takin’ off, next comes a crop killin’ drought ready to destroy his already tough hardscrapple farming existence. And what man can fix that?
The late Dave Dudley (1928-2003) was pumping out the country from the sixties through the eighties and in that hard-working Nashville way recorded more than 70 albums during his career. (Drought is from his fifth album Rural Route 1, released in 1965.) You may remember Dudley as the musical muse for truckers. His biggest hit, Six Days on the Road, was the song that started that whole big-rig trucker music craze in the 1960s.
So have a listen and if you want ol’ Dave’s recommendation for dealing with drought: “Pray with the coming of each dawn that this crop killing drought will be gone.”
Play the track
You can dam out the water and shut the wind out
But a man ain’t been born who can destroy a drought
There’s a hot screaming wind at my door
but I just don’t care anymore
There’s a crop killing drought on the way
and my good woman she left me today
Oh she stayed just as long as she could
but then the farm has not treated us good
She begged me to pack up and go
but then farming is all that I know
You can dam out the water and shut the wind out
But a man ain’t been born who can destroy a drought
She cried as if I were to blame
but the Lord knows I can’t make it rain
There’s a hot screaming sun up in the sky
it’s so still I can hear the grass die
So I’ll wait for the coolness of dark
and bear up to this pain in my heart
And I’ll pray with the coming of each dawn
that this crop killing drought will be gone
You can dam out the water and shut the wind out
But a man ain’t been born who can destroy a drought
Water, water everywhere… consuming your thoughts and dreams, driving your actions and decisions. Dictating your choice of friends, how you spend your time, your money, your goodwill. You have water on the brain, and you may have gone off the deep end, figuratively speaking. You, yes YOU, may be obsessed with water!
Over at ValleyCresttakeson.com (the blog and news arm of Valley Crest Landscape Companies) writer Martha Golea serves up the amusing article, Are You Obsessed with Water Management? After reading Martha’s post I can safely say, “We’ll be right at home in this newly-proposed water-crazies group!” In fact, Martha, in this this high-stakes water obsession game we at ThirstyInSuburbia will call your obsession and raise you one! Read more
Happy Holidays! And to celebrate the season, a gift for you: an all-new h2o mp3 from Steve Anderson, the water world’s funniest singer-songwriter and an advocate for free-flowing pipes and sewers everywhere!
In his newest original wastewater hit O Christmas Grease we are reminded that the FOG is rolling in this holiday season, and that there’s a right and wrong method to dispose of the nasty by-products of high-fat Christmas cookery. Read more
Water Tower Stand-Off; photo via napa.patch.com
News overload! We’re all scanning the headlines. Hundreds of them, sometimes, in a single day. And only a few select, tantalizing, provocative links ultimately earn our coveted click-through.
What a shame. Because if you scanned right by this item, well… you missed some amazing details.
You can read the whole story now if you like, but how about I make it really easy and clip just the best funny, sad and ironic details?
The broad scenario: In Napa Valley, California, Adrain Madrigal, a mentally disturbed hispanic man, “occupied” the top of an old tannery water tower for 6.5 hours before being taken into custody.
hatch. Why it’s amazing: Cartoons as reality–the old “escape hatch” move, a classic Looney Toonie setup!
A helmeted, rifle-bearing SWAT agent made efforts to reach the man, but he repeatedly evaded them by moving to the other side of the water tank, using a pivoting ladder that is attached to the very top of the tower.
Madrigal may be the same person a manager found on the property Tuesday, who said he was looking for a job. He was told to return early the next day. Why it’s amazing: Occupy Water Tower. Wake up people, it’s not about tacos and cigs. It’s about jobs and water. And that’s a fact. 
And the fun just keeps coming from Steve Anderson, among the great hidden talents in the water business. We’re pleased to present his newest original wastewater hit, Don’t Flush the Baby (Wipes)! (Side note: Ignore that “flushable” label you’ll see on some packages; I learned the hard way, they most certainly are not.) Read more
Now who could be opposed to reuse and recycling? Go green, woo hoo! Just don’t go green where you , uh, you know, go!
A toilet planter via VTscapes on Flickr
Is it a tad enviro-ugly if your neighbor reuses an out-to-pasture toilet for a whimsical planter? Surely there’s a law! A code? Something? A regulatory loophole somewhere that would prevent such a tasteless display in your well-manicured suburban oasis?
The complex legal issues surrounding toilet planters were covered in a recent post to “Answer Man” in Rochester, Minnesota’s PostBulletin.com…and we don’t think the questioner will be happy with the lawyer-approved answer!
Dear Answer Man, is it legal to plant flowers in an old toilet and keep it in your front yard in this lovely city of ours? A neighbor recently did this and it doesn’t do much to enhance the otherwise nice, well-kept neighborhood. In fact, I cringe every day when I drive by it. I could see maybe in the backyard or at the end of a long, dirt road, but in the middle of northwest Rochester? Please help me to clear the air.
I’m always happy to flush out the truth. To help with the flushing, I called City Attorney Terry Adkins, who said it was the very first time in his career that he’s heard this question.
There’s no ordinance to prohibit the use of a toilet as a flower pot, but a few lines in the city housing code get close to the mark. “The open area of your premises must be kept in a reasonably clean and neat condition, including the removal of all inoperable machines, appliances, fixtures and equipment,” the code says.
“I suppose someone could make the argument that a toilet out there is inoperable” and thus violates the code, Terry says. But then he called the city building safety department. Amazingly, “they have received some complaints (historically) and have taken the position that it’s not a violation of the ordinance,” reasoning that the “fixture” in this case is “operable” because it’s loaded with plants.
If it wasn’t used as a planter and was simply in the front yard, presented as a Duchampian work of art, it presumably would be illegal. At least that’s the response of the city.
And in my idyllic suburbia? I come down squarely in favor of toilet planters; in fact, I have one of my own, though please note that my interpretation uses only the tank and is displayed privately in my backyard. (Happily filled with impatiens right now.)
I’ll bet the toilet gardener in question imagines they are quite creative, but the idea is not unique; a quick search on Flickr produces a ton of dirt on the topic!