Contributing to the California Water Crisis?

The New York Times recently ran a thought-provoking article about the water crisis in California, specifically pointing out that "the average American consumes more than 300 gallons of California water each week by eating food that was produced there."

Photo from New York Times.

The article is more visual than verbal, yet speaks volumes. Stark photographs of every day foods, along with their associated water requirements, make up most of the page, along with a few very clever “infographic” videos that put the water use into perspective. It’s quickly apparent that it takes vast amounts of water to put even the smallest bit of food on your plate.

Who knew that just two slices of bread took 6.4 gallons of water to produce; 1.75 oz. of beef took 86 gallons of water; or that sixteen almonds required 15.3 gallons?

Entitled, “Your Contribution to the California Drought”, the amounts of water used for food production is based on estimates from the Agricultural Issues Center, the Pacific Institute , and from Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2012).

You can read the complete article by clicking here: http://goo.gl/AVzcbN

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