[Applause]
I vividly remember five years ago I was
hit by a sad and troubling news item
showing a devastated dairy farmer in
Ethiopia I recall his name was the wheat
a rugged outdoorsy man and the weed had
lost all his livestock because of water
shortages in his region there was just
not enough water for his animals to stay
alive and a dreaded dry season had not
the image of that suffering grabbed me
because that farmer could have been my
uncle with my uncle who is also a dairy
farmer had been born on a different
continent a researcher by background I
had to dive deeper and grapple the cause
of the weeds affliction and to my great
surprise I discovered that it was I
myself that was impacting this Ethiopian
pharmacist livelihood because of what I
do and because of how I live I was
shocked to discover that my water use or
my water footprint had spread out like a
virus all across the world much farther
than I could ever imagine and not only
that I was humbled and dismayed that my
water footprint was so large too large
may I ask you do you have any idea how
much water you use on an average day do
you know how large your water footprint
is I am from the Netherlands as you
probably could have guessed from my
shirt and we got plenty of water right
what a scarcity and drought seem distant
predicaments not in the least affecting
me so I bother about my water use but
after studying the topic for many years
since I stand here fully convinced that
it is absolutely vital for every one of
us to give some deep thought to our
water footprint and to become aware
of the impact that it has let’s start
with some common assumptions we have
about our water use we generally think
we use it in and around the house right
for washing for cooking for cleaning for
flushing the toilet and we think we’re
doing really well if we install a water
saving shower head or if we turn off the
tap when we are brushing our teeth and
we think we’re doing really great if we
buy a water efficient washing machine
right big sense I mean that’s what I
used to think oh and a friend from
Britain once told me did they think we
stingy dutch even wash our cars when it
rains just the safe and water but boy
was I wrong I was dumbstruck when I
found that the activities that I thought
used water to Washington cooking the
cleaning that those activities together
made up less than 1% of my total water
footprint less than 1% you see I had
only listed a direct part of my
footprint the part that is used in and
around the house but my total what a
footprint is the some of the water that
is used for all the activities or
products that we consume so I missed the
indirect part of my footprint you may
say the hidden water the water that is
tucked away in often remote supply
chains where it is used to produce the
products that we buy the clothes that we
wear and the food that we eat that is
where the remaining 99% is it is in our
lifestyle choices now through trade in
products from one country to the other
we virtually trade water to and thereby
cause our lifestyles to have an impact
on what a resource is far away far
beyond our tap at home and the numbers
don’t lie shall I share our actual water
footprint we use on average 4000 liters
per day to support our modern consumer
lifestyles 4000 liters
what a staggering number right I mean
that’s what equivalent to taking 20
baths every single day that’s crazy
4000 liters but what does that imply
what are the ramifications of these
large footprints do you think our
planets can handle that sustain that I’m
sorry to initiate you into some
discomforting truths about the impact
that this water footprint has and I’ll
do that by sharing three short stories
in which I’ll show our what a footprint
is too large or unsustainable it is
for the coffee lovers among you
let’s first dive into the realm of
coffee production and let me introduce
you to a baby at Kenya an Ethiopian
coffee farmer an amiable man with a big
smile from ear to ear and he works from
dusk till dawn to make sure that you and
I can enjoy a delicious cup of coffee
for breakfast tomorrow he mainly relies
on rainwater for his crops to grow but
he also has an irrigation system set up
to lead water from the nearby river onto
his fields and fortunately the river is
being overexploited because many more
farmers and companies and communities
all draw from the same limited supply
there’s just not enough water to support
River ecosystems so fish die there’s not
enough water especially in dry years for
a baby to irrigate his fields so his
crops die and there’s not enough water
to support the demand of his downstream
neighbor our friend the weeds the
livestock farmer and we saw eventually
his animals died you see the beans from
my cup of coffee for me to stay awake at
for just one cup needed 140 liters on a
baby’s farm to grow water that was
partially taken from the river and that
was therefore no longer available for
his downstream neighbor for the wheat
this story illustrates how to many
competing demands for water eventually
cause everyone to lose
fish farmers and families alike is it
sustainable to just keep and keep on
drawing until there’s nothing left and
please don’t think that this story is
exceptional all around the world we see
rivers run dry we see groundwater tables
drop and to say with Thomas fuller only
then when the wells run dry will we know
the true value of water
a typical narrative then is that local
farmers cannot make ends meet so decide
to migrate to the big city hoping for
better luck but they are overcrowding
and in Congress viewpoints lead to
quarrels in conflict sometimes even
violence conflicts and potentially water
wars yes there are conflicts over water
in the Middle East in the Nile Basin
elsewhere and the ordeal will only
worsen with growing populations
increased wealth and climate change
whereas with floods and earthquakes we
immediately see it’s devastating fallout
what a scarcity you could say is misery
misery in slow motion and our
unsustainable footprint is only adding
to that misery the second story will be
about meat if you are a conventional
carnivore then the water footprint of
your meat based diet is 4,300 liters per
day whereas if you’re a vegetarian the
water footprint of your diet is only
2700 liters per day or 40% smaller and
the reason is that the animals that we
eat are fed enormous quantities of soy
and maize which require a ton of water
to grow if we struggle to feed growing
populations in an ever scarcer world is
it that fair to use two thousand liters
for one steak two
certain people notably the rich
especially knowing that the price of
water and the cost of its negative
impacts as we just saw are not being
discounted into the price that you and I
pay for that stake the last story will
be about cotton if I look around see a
lot of people wearing cotton of course
but where did it come from
what were the origins where was it grown
it’s a tricky question it turns out it’s
very hard to determine the origin of the
cotton even though it matters a lot
because in some places cotton requires
5000 litres to grow to produce the
equivalent of one t-shirt 5000 litres
for one shirt for us to stay warm but in
other places that same cotton shirt
requires only 2000 litres for the cotton
to grow and the research behind these
numbers show that the explaining factor
is farm management in other words if a
farmer really needs 5000 litres to
produce only one shirt we know 3000
liters at least are being wasted
needlessly so is that an efficient way
of dealing with our resources and I
thought I was doing so well with my
water efficient washing machine but now
I know my footprint is large too large
way too large causing scarcity and
misery in countless places so the
question that remains is this can we all
stay awake well fed and warm while using
our water resources everywhere
sustainably efficiently and fairly I am
convinced that we can if we all take on
this shared responsibility where
businesses can do their share asking
governments but also you and I the
modern consumers of today’s globalized
world can take action remember we
determine what our footprint
we’ll be through our lifestyle choices
so find out how what our intensive your
lifestyle is although since virtually no
brand in the world properly labels or
reports their water use and its impacts
I guess you’re up for a hard time so
what can we do to start making informed
decisions we have to ask them to start
labeling the water using the impact of
their products as a matter of fact why
don’t we do it right now as I’m done
talking think of one or two water
intensive products and bombard the
social media platforms of the producers
with requests okay
what else can we do we can reduce our
food waste reduce our clothing waste
lower our meat consumption why don’t we
introduce a meatless Monday
I promise guys you will survive and for
the greater good the juice is absolutely
worth the squeeze if we take on this
share responsibility if we become good
water stewards if we start making water
sustainable lifestyle choices we can
avert dry rivers debt fish and deprived
communities and go from scarcity to abundance
I vividly remember five years ago I was
hit by a sad and troubling news item
showing a devastated dairy farmer in
Ethiopia I recall his name was the wheat
a rugged outdoorsy man and the weed had
lost all his livestock because of water
shortages in his region there was just
not enough water for his animals to stay
alive and a dreaded dry season had not
the image of that suffering grabbed me
because that farmer could have been my
uncle with my uncle who is also a dairy
farmer had been born on a different
continent a researcher by background I
had to dive deeper and grapple the cause
of the weeds affliction and to my great
surprise I discovered that it was I
myself that was impacting this Ethiopian
pharmacist livelihood because of what I
do and because of how I live I was
shocked to discover that my water use or
my water footprint had spread out like a
virus all across the world much farther
than I could ever imagine and not only
that I was humbled and dismayed that my
water footprint was so large too large
may I ask you do you have any idea how
much water you use on an average day do
you know how large your water footprint
is I am from the Netherlands as you
probably could have guessed from my
shirt and we got plenty of water right
what a scarcity and drought seem distant
predicaments not in the least affecting
me so I bother about my water use but
after studying the topic for many years
since I stand here fully convinced that
it is absolutely vital for every one of
us to give some deep thought to our
water footprint and to become aware
of the impact that it has let’s start
with some common assumptions we have
about our water use we generally think
we use it in and around the house right
for washing for cooking for cleaning for
flushing the toilet and we think we’re
doing really well if we install a water
saving shower head or if we turn off the
tap when we are brushing our teeth and
we think we’re doing really great if we
buy a water efficient washing machine
right big sense I mean that’s what I
used to think oh and a friend from
Britain once told me did they think we
stingy dutch even wash our cars when it
rains just the safe and water but boy
was I wrong I was dumbstruck when I
found that the activities that I thought
used water to Washington cooking the
cleaning that those activities together
made up less than 1% of my total water
footprint less than 1% you see I had
only listed a direct part of my
footprint the part that is used in and
around the house but my total what a
footprint is the some of the water that
is used for all the activities or
products that we consume so I missed the
indirect part of my footprint you may
say the hidden water the water that is
tucked away in often remote supply
chains where it is used to produce the
products that we buy the clothes that we
wear and the food that we eat that is
where the remaining 99% is it is in our
lifestyle choices now through trade in
products from one country to the other
we virtually trade water to and thereby
cause our lifestyles to have an impact
on what a resource is far away far
beyond our tap at home and the numbers
don’t lie shall I share our actual water
footprint we use on average 4000 liters
per day to support our modern consumer
lifestyles 4000 liters
what a staggering number right I mean
that’s what equivalent to taking 20
baths every single day that’s crazy
4000 liters but what does that imply
what are the ramifications of these
large footprints do you think our
planets can handle that sustain that I’m
sorry to initiate you into some
discomforting truths about the impact
that this water footprint has and I’ll
do that by sharing three short stories
in which I’ll show our what a footprint
is too large or unsustainable it is
for the coffee lovers among you
let’s first dive into the realm of
coffee production and let me introduce
you to a baby at Kenya an Ethiopian
coffee farmer an amiable man with a big
smile from ear to ear and he works from
dusk till dawn to make sure that you and
I can enjoy a delicious cup of coffee
for breakfast tomorrow he mainly relies
on rainwater for his crops to grow but
he also has an irrigation system set up
to lead water from the nearby river onto
his fields and fortunately the river is
being overexploited because many more
farmers and companies and communities
all draw from the same limited supply
there’s just not enough water to support
River ecosystems so fish die there’s not
enough water especially in dry years for
a baby to irrigate his fields so his
crops die and there’s not enough water
to support the demand of his downstream
neighbor our friend the weeds the
livestock farmer and we saw eventually
his animals died you see the beans from
my cup of coffee for me to stay awake at
for just one cup needed 140 liters on a
baby’s farm to grow water that was
partially taken from the river and that
was therefore no longer available for
his downstream neighbor for the wheat
this story illustrates how to many
competing demands for water eventually
cause everyone to lose
fish farmers and families alike is it
sustainable to just keep and keep on
drawing until there’s nothing left and
please don’t think that this story is
exceptional all around the world we see
rivers run dry we see groundwater tables
drop and to say with Thomas fuller only
then when the wells run dry will we know
the true value of water
a typical narrative then is that local
farmers cannot make ends meet so decide
to migrate to the big city hoping for
better luck but they are overcrowding
and in Congress viewpoints lead to
quarrels in conflict sometimes even
violence conflicts and potentially water
wars yes there are conflicts over water
in the Middle East in the Nile Basin
elsewhere and the ordeal will only
worsen with growing populations
increased wealth and climate change
whereas with floods and earthquakes we
immediately see it’s devastating fallout
what a scarcity you could say is misery
misery in slow motion and our
unsustainable footprint is only adding
to that misery the second story will be
about meat if you are a conventional
carnivore then the water footprint of
your meat based diet is 4,300 liters per
day whereas if you’re a vegetarian the
water footprint of your diet is only
2700 liters per day or 40% smaller and
the reason is that the animals that we
eat are fed enormous quantities of soy
and maize which require a ton of water
to grow if we struggle to feed growing
populations in an ever scarcer world is
it that fair to use two thousand liters
for one steak two
certain people notably the rich
especially knowing that the price of
water and the cost of its negative
impacts as we just saw are not being
discounted into the price that you and I
pay for that stake the last story will
be about cotton if I look around see a
lot of people wearing cotton of course
but where did it come from
what were the origins where was it grown
it’s a tricky question it turns out it’s
very hard to determine the origin of the
cotton even though it matters a lot
because in some places cotton requires
5000 litres to grow to produce the
equivalent of one t-shirt 5000 litres
for one shirt for us to stay warm but in
other places that same cotton shirt
requires only 2000 litres for the cotton
to grow and the research behind these
numbers show that the explaining factor
is farm management in other words if a
farmer really needs 5000 litres to
produce only one shirt we know 3000
liters at least are being wasted
needlessly so is that an efficient way
of dealing with our resources and I
thought I was doing so well with my
water efficient washing machine but now
I know my footprint is large too large
way too large causing scarcity and
misery in countless places so the
question that remains is this can we all
stay awake well fed and warm while using
our water resources everywhere
sustainably efficiently and fairly I am
convinced that we can if we all take on
this shared responsibility where
businesses can do their share asking
governments but also you and I the
modern consumers of today’s globalized
world can take action remember we
determine what our footprint
we’ll be through our lifestyle choices
so find out how what our intensive your
lifestyle is although since virtually no
brand in the world properly labels or
reports their water use and its impacts
I guess you’re up for a hard time so
what can we do to start making informed
decisions we have to ask them to start
labeling the water using the impact of
their products as a matter of fact why
don’t we do it right now as I’m done
talking think of one or two water
intensive products and bombard the
social media platforms of the producers
with requests okay
what else can we do we can reduce our
food waste reduce our clothing waste
lower our meat consumption why don’t we
introduce a meatless Monday
I promise guys you will survive and for
the greater good the juice is absolutely
worth the squeeze if we take on this
share responsibility if we become good
water stewards if we start making water
sustainable lifestyle choices we can
avert dry rivers debt fish and deprived
communities and go from scarcity to abundance
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