Meet Willow, a curious and adventurous girl with a heart as vast as the ocean. When Willow learns about the concept of a "water footprint" from her local grocer, she embarks on a journey of discovery that transforms her understanding of the world around her. With each drop of knowledge she absorbs, Willow becomes determined to make a splash in water conservation, by spreading awareness at home, at school and throughout her community.
As Willow explores the impact of water usage on the environment, she creatively finds ways to reduce her own water footprint. From turning off the tap while brushing her teeth to learning about new watering tools for the garden, Willow's small actions ripple out into her school and community, inspiring others to join her cause.
Willow's insatiable curiosity and boundless energy compels her to dive deeper into the world of water conservation, encouraging fellow students to join her Water Wisdom Club. After inspiring fellow classmates to participate, she spearheads a campaign to collect used bath towels for local homeless shelters and animal centers. Donating and reusing these items would help reduce the amount of water that would have been used to produce those products, therefore reducing the water footprint in Willow's community.
Through Willow's journey, young readers will be inspired to look at water in a whole new light and discover the power they hold to make a difference, one drop at a time. Join Willow as she splashes into action and proves that even the smallest person can make a big wave in the fight to protect our most precious resource: water.
What is a water footprint?
Water footprint, alongside carbon footprint and land footprint is an ecological footprint indicator. Everything we use, wear, buy, sell and eat takes water to make.
A water footprint can be defined as the amount of water used in the production of goods and services that are consumed by individuals, communities, and businesses. The amount of water used from the start of production until it reaches the hands of the consumer is calculated to determine one product's water footprint.
The water footprint of an individual is the amount of freshwater used directly or indirectly by an individual. Direct water use is the volume of water used at home while indirect water is the amount of water used in the production of goods and services that have been consumed by the individual. An individual water footprint averages 1.4 million liters per year.
The concept of water footprint was brought about by Arjen Hoekstra in 2002. He was a water management professor at the University of Twente, Netherlands. Hoekstra applied this ecological analysis concept to measure the volumes of water used during the production of goods and services. Today the water footprint is one of the family of environmental footprints that help us understand how our production and consumption choices are affecting natural resources.
Teachers! Use Willow's Wisdom: Teachers can use this book, and the wise lessons from Willow, to spark student interest in learning about environmental footprints and water conservation. Use Willow's journey to inspire students to make changes in the way they look at the products around them, and the water footprint impact of those products.
Did you know?
It takes about 18-36 liters of water to make one tomato. In this story Mr. Green inspires Willow to learn more about water usage for all the products around her at home and in her community.
It takes about 20,000 liters of water to make one bath towel. In this story Willow is inspired to lower her community's water footprint by collecting, donating and repurposing gently used bath towels.
Willow's Wish: Hopefully this story will inspire readers to incorporate the concept of lowering their water footprint in their daily lives and think about the water footprint hidden in every purchase.