Blog Action Day 2010: Water

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. This year’s topic is water.

The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion around an important issue that impacts us all.

Five Water Facts:

• Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Unclean drinking water can incubate some pretty scary diseases, like E. coli, salmonella, cholera and hepatitis A. Given that bouquet of bacteria, it’s no surprise that water, or rather lack thereof, causes 42,000 deaths each week.
• More people have access to a cell phone than to a toilet. Today, 2.5 billion people lack access to toilets. This means that sewage spills into rivers and streams, contaminating drinking water and causing disease.
• Every day, women and children in Africa walk a combined total of 109 million hours to get water. They do this while carrying cisterns weighing around 40 pounds when filled in order to gather water that, in many cases, is still polluted. Aside from putting a great deal of strain on their bodies, walking such long distances keeps children out of school and women away from other endeavors that can help improve the quality of life in their communities.
• It takes 6.3 gallons of water to produce just one hamburger. That 6.3 gallons covers everything from watering the wheat for the bun and providing water for the cow to cooking the patty and baking the bun. And that’s just one meal! It would take over 184 billion gallons of water to make just one hamburger for every person in the United States.
• The average American uses 159 gallons of water every day – more than 15 times the average person in the developing world. From showering and washing our hands to watering our lawns and washing our cars, Americans use a lot of water. To put things into perspective, the average five-minute shower will use about 10 gallons of water. Now imagine using that same amount to bathe, wash your clothes, cook your meals and quench your thirst.

A way you can help us and yourself is to sign this online petition:

Now, as we are a Design and Advertising blog, I have compiled some nice ads about the subject, so let`s check them out:

Advertising Agency: McCann Worldgroup, Mumbai, India
Regional Executive Creative Director: Prasoon Joshi
Executive Creative Director: Ryan Menezes
Art Director: Sandip Gaikwad, Milind Palav
Copywriter: Lolita D’souza
Photographer: Saish Kambli

Advertising Agency: Casanova Pendrill, NY, USA
Executive Creative Director: Elias Weinstock
Creative Director: Alejandro Ortiz
Copywriters: Beto Arévalo, Dámaso Crespo
Art Directors: Dámaso Crespo, Beto Arévalo
Photographers: Dámaso Crespo, Gustavo Villanueva

Advertising Agency: Pandora Comunicação, Natal/RN, Brazil
Creative Director: Caio Victoriano
Art Director: João Filho
Copywriter: Tiago Mesquita

Advertising Agency: BBDO Toronto, Canada
Creative Directors: Peter Ignazi, Carlos Moreno
Art Director: Linda Carte
Copywriter: Rachel Abrams
Photographer: Rebecca Nixon

Advertising Agency: .99, Auckland, New Zealand
Creative Director: Craig Whitehead
Art Director / Copywriter: Edward Bell

Advertising Agency: BDDP & Fils, Paris, France
Creative Director : Guillaume Chifflot
Art Director : David Derouet
Copywriter : Emmanuel de Dieuleveult

Source: Ads of the world

So if you have a couple a minutes, please sign the petition, c you next time guys!