Visualizing.org and Circle of Blue have launched an international contest, which offers a US$ 5,000 cash prize to creative teams of designers, data experts and visualizers who present new ways to visualise data on urban water and sanitation.
The competition closes on 18 March and winners will be announced on World Water Day, 22 March 2011.
Read more at: www.circleofblue.org/waternews/visualizing/
International survey finds fresh water pollution, scarcity drive public concern.
Valentin Pérez Hernandez, a young gardener from Mexico City, moves daily between the two water realities of the nation’s capital: though the immense city is roiled by fierce water shortages, fecal contamination, industrial pollution, and old infrastructure that too often fails, the posh Jardines del Pedregal section where he works is a green and colorful oasis supplied with unusual water abundance. Photo: Circle of Blue
A comprehensive Circle of Blue | GlobeScan international public opinion survey on attitudes about fresh water sustainability, management and conservation finds that people around the world view water issues as the planet’s top environmental problem, greater than air pollution, depletion of natural resources, loss of habitat and even climate change.
The poll, funded by the Molson Coors Brewing Company, surveyed 1,000 people in each of 15 countries, and probed 500 in each of the following countries on specific questions: Canada, China, India, Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The survey was made public in Stockholm, Sweden, on 18 August 2009 during World Water Week.
The fierce impediments to clean water and sanitation, and the millions of premature deaths from water-related disease are seen as having a greater influence on quality of life and the planet than air pollution, species extinction, depletion of natural resources, loss of habitat and climate change.
More than 90 percent of those polled expressed a conviction that access to clean, fresh water is fundamental, not only for themselves but for all people. Across the globe, respondents to the survey also said education was essential to help people understand the dimensions and the urgency of the crisis.
In response to the survey data, Circle of Blue commissioned some of the world’s best photojournalists to document in pictures and words various facets of the conclusions in seven countries.
A close look at the survey results found considerable consistency, as well as significant variability, in how people view the global fresh water crisis. Among the other consequential findings:
Download the complete GlobeScan/Circle of Blue Report [pdf]
Visit the Water Views page with graphics, a feature story, country profiles, photo stories and videos.
Molson Coors Brewing Company [has] announced a strategic collaboration with Circle of Blue in support of their mutual and long-term commitment to protecting global fresh water supplies. Circle of Blue is the international network of leading journalists, scientists and communicators focused on global water issues.
[...] The collaboration’s first initiative will be to launch an independent survey of public awareness and concern for fresh water issues in 25 countries around the world, with a deeper evaluation of attitudes about fresh water conservation in a smaller subset of seven countries. The research and survey analysis will be conducted by Globescan, a nonpartisan research and polling firm, and will provide the first substantive global benchmark for civic engagement on fresh water issues.
Circle of Blue will be joined by Molson Coors Brewing Company president and CEO, Peter Swinburn, in presenting the survey results at World Water Week on August 18, [2009] in Stockholm.
[...] Striving to use less water, all Molson Coors breweries achieved their 2008 goal of an overall four percent reduction in water use.
The relationship with Circle of Blue deepens Molson Coors’ commitment to the United Nations CEO Water Mandate, which seeks to engage a critical mass of business leaders around the world to address the emerging global water crisis. In keeping with the Water Mandate’s call for businesses to address water sustainability in their operations and supply chain and disclose their progress, Molson Coors has developed water metrics, which are posted on its Web site and published in its corporate responsibility report. The results of the survey will inform future water targets and strategies for the company.
Molson Coors is a longstanding and active member of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) where global beverage companies work together to advance water conservation and resource protection. In the U.S. market, the company has established partnerships with organizations focused on regional water resource management. In partnership with the River Network, the company supports watershed protection programs in several states across the U.S. Molson Coors is also working with the international organization Water for People to further advance the principles of integrated water resource management.
Web sites:
Source: PRNewswire, 20 Jul 2009
Google Labs [has] launched Fusion Tables, a powerful new online research and data organizing tool that makes it much easier to share and navigate the world’s digital science and technical archives. Fusion Tables, which was developed by Google engineers using sample research data about the global fresh water crisis provided by the Pacific Institute and Circle of Blue, is specifically designed to unlock a treasure trove of facts, trends, and scientific findings that until now have been sequestered in databases and spreadsheets not easily shared.
The new Google technology provides users a rare opportunity to share critical data, probe them, organize pertinent information and generate design elements — charts and graphs — that translate complex information into much more digestible trends. The intent is to enable online collaborators to study and understand in new dimensions the world’s complex problems — the fresh water crisis among them — discern the salient details and organize those scientifically confirmed facts. They can be used to tell stories, offer insights, and propose solutions that heretofore were largely the purview of scholars and scientific experts.
[...] Journalists from Circle of Blue wanted to understand the influence of per capita income and the availability of tap water on the incidence of child mortality worldwide from diarrhea. Circle of Blue merged Pacific Institute data in the Fusion Table Gallery with data sets from the Internet. Fusion Tables created a scatter plot that revealed a noticeable and predictable correlation of death by water-related illness, wealth and safe drinking water availability. As the gross domestic product per capita increased, the percentage of a country’s population connected to tap water increased, and child deaths related to diarrhea decreased.
Source: Aubrey Parker, Circle of Blue, 16 Jun 2009
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