St. Roza and their Water Campaign

St. Roza, a veteran Grades of Green Team from Uganda and winner of the first Water Campaign, has joined us once again for this semester’s 2018 Water Campaign. The team has made incredible accomplishments in recent years. For the first Campaign, they have installed a water filtration system to maximize water efficiency for their garden. In addition, they used their well-earned prize money from the first Water Campaign to build a 40,000 liter well for their school and their community!

St. Roza’s Grades of Green Team has been looking into ways to solve their community’s water issues. In Uganda, 61% of Ugandans lack access to safe drink water. In addition, the nation’s tropical climate creates distinctive periods of rain and drought- known as wet and dry seasons. This can make water conservation and water quality efforts more difficult to manage. After building their 40,000 liter well, St. Roza has managed to address the water conservation portion and are looking into ways to keep their hard earned water in good quality. Without centralized water infrastructure, people in Uganda have to be creative and resourceful when it comes to safe drinking water.

Water Facts!

Let’s check out a few water facts to learn how to be resourceful with our own water!

1) The average global footprint for daily activities per person is about 3400 liters of water.

2) The average American diet alone uses up about 3785 liters of water a day.

3) Nearly 22% of indoor home water water use comes from doing laundry.

4) 80% of all diseases in developing nations are related to lack of safe water for drinking and sanitation.

5) Activated charcoal is an ingredient used in many water filters. It can absorb nutrients and other chemicals from water sources due to its extremely high surface area.

Do you have any water facts and tips? Share with us on Instagram @gradesofgreen

World Water Day!

March 22nd is World Water Day! As populations, economies, and productivity all expand throughout the world, it is important to learn about the water needed to fuel all these changes. Without enough water, electric generators cannot be cooled, agriculture for food and clothing cannot be grown, and hygiene standards would fall. Although water conservation is important around the world, some areas have different approaches to saving water given their climate and local environment.

Climates and Locations

Countries have differing climates and attributes depending on their location on the globe. Some nations have four distinct seasons while some countries near the equator have have dry and wet seasons. For countries with dry and wet seasons, water conservation is so important. Without proper planning, dry and wet season countries might not have enough quality water for crops, cooling electric plants, and for cleaning and drinking. Grades of Green provides a few ways for schools to save water, but one Grades of Green School went above and beyond.

What are some other solutions?

Well Makers for Wellbeing

St. Roza, a private school in Uganda, wanted to provide quality water for their community during the dry season. As winners of last year’s Water Challenge, they used their earned grant funding to create a well that can hold up to 40,000 liters of water. This well will be able to capture and save water from the rain abundant wet season and help throughout the dry season. St. Roza certainly earned their grant and are paying it forward!

Expanding the Solution

St. Roza also hope to use some of their collected water to create a water efficient fish farm with help from their friends in Nebraska! Fish takes far less water for the average home cook to cook with compared to some local favorites like ugali, yams, rice, and lentils. Moreover, dishes that take less water to use can reduce the chances of waterborne diseases from spreading, since they do not need as much time to boil. The Grades of Green Team at St. Roza hopes that their community can be less dependent on water during the dry season so that there is enough for agriculture, drinking, cleaning and for the good of their community and future generations.

Interested in saving water at your school? Register with Grades of Green here to get started!

Inspired by the blog post written by our L.A. intern Josh about air quality, our friends at St. Roza in Uganda reached out to us to share their own efforts to help with air quality!

Using designs from their fellow art students, the student eco-leaders at St. Roza have constructed an incinerator in order to reduce emissions produced from the burning of the waste they create. Before the students built their incinerator, some of their waste was burned in an open fire with no way to control the emissions created. This sent all sorts of toxins and pollutants into the atmosphere. These students are very concerned about the addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and its effects on global warming and rainfall, so using materials such as clay, sand, and stones, they took matters into their own hands and built an incinerator! They are always working to improve the quality of air and the environment however they can!

We are so happy to hear what these students are doing to reduce air pollution! Their eco-tip might even end up on a special Grades of Green reusable napkin made by our friends at Funkins! Did you submit your eco-tip for our custom napkin contest with Funkins? If so, be on the lookout for an email from us announcing the winners on March 25th!

Interested in spreading the word about protecting air quality or reducing air pollution? Register here to gain access to our 40+ Eco-Activities like our Air Earth Tips Activity!