Most people appreciate the simple pleasure of kicking back after a long week at work and getting absolutely blotto on beer, but any self-respecting greenie may want to think twice before tipping back another cotton-pickin' bottle. While you're at it, step away from the wine, coffee, and apple juice, too -- there will be no more liquid vices in the green community!! If you're dead-serious about conserving every precious drop of aqua that you can and you believe that you've already got your personal water consumption totally streamlined, you should probably take a long, hard look at the beverages crammed in your refrigerator. You're probably not going to like the cold and utterly sobering reality.
According to a comprehensive study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund, the water footprint involved in the beer making process, from the farm to the factory, is ginormous -- we're talking an average of 155 liters of H20 for every one liter of beer. To really comprehend the vast scale of this type of water consumption, consider that brewer SABMiller's entire "water footprint" was roughly 8.4 trillion liters of water in 2008 (twice the volume that Iceland used in 2004). Granted, the chilly country may be relatively petite in size, but their population of about 320,000 is nothing to sneeze at. Either Icelanders are not a very thirsty bunch or SABMiller is washing their driveway and taking long showers just a liiiiiittle too much. Not surprisingly, the large majority of water utilized in the beer industry involves hop and barley crop irrigation but before you cut beer out of your repertoire altogether, cheer up little camper...it's actually not the hugest offender in the beverage biz.
The coffee beans, grape vines and apple trees that ultimately supply us with other lip-smackingly good drinks generate THREE TIMES the footprint of little ol' beer. Whaaa? Indeed, it's true...the Pacific Institute's findings are poised to tear a hole in the hearts of java and Jesus juice junkies everywhere...oh, along with cherubic little kiddies clinging tightly to their applelicious sippy cups. It takes 35 gallons of water to ultimately produce one stinkin' cup of coffee! Or maybe you're a soda-pop-a-holic? Awww, that's too bad, because a two liter bottle requires 85 - 130 gallons of H20 which one can only presume includes all of the water necessary to sufficiently hydrate sugar cane and corn crops. With that being said, are these numbers enough to make you give up your preferred liquid vice and stick with simple, plain-Jane water? Are you concerned enough about our water supply to make additional personal lifestyle compromises? Is this one green sacrifice that you absolutely refuse to make?
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