Should high school deans and the Department of Education at large rethink requirements for swimming and other water sports due to water worries in the United States?

Maintaining a swimming pool and program in public schools is incredibly costly, especially in times of economic recession. The budget for water sports programs in high school include fees for supplies, staff, and other maintenance. Are major swimming pools for high schools and recreational teams still a cost effective activity considering natural resource concerns?

Ultimately, ensuring the sustainable use of water resources necessitates control for consumption in all capacities. Affects of the global water crisis are felt at every level of the population in industrialized and developing countries alike.

Since swimming is a recreational activity, can policy makers or local schools prove that such classes are imperative to delivering a quality education to high school students? Or will the Department of Education and local school districts need to make a big plunge…eradicating water sports from education?

Due to economic disparities that exist between school districts in communities with different tax brackets, removing swimming lessons could be a step toward equalizing education across the United States.

If school districts with swimming pools effectively prove that swimming lessons are an integral part of quality education, then a case for establishing swimming pools in every school could be made. Clearly, such a mandate would not be economically viable.

For some students, swimming lessons may present an exciting alternative as opposed to otherwise dry physical education classes. For others,  changing into a swim suit in front of classmates is a dreadfully uncomfortable experience.

Firstly, educators should analyze how swimming made its way into public school curriculum. Secondly, budget experts and deans need to identify if such a costly program is indeed still an immutable facet of the American secondary education experience.

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Founded in 1919 the American Beverage Association (ABA) was initially called the American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages, to later be renamed the National Soft Drink Association. This organization represents a variety of beverage producers and distributers. ABA is key insofar it “provides a neutral forum in which members convene to discuss common issues while maintaining their tradition of spirited competition in the American marketplace” (Source: http://www.ameribev.org/about-aba/history/).

The schedule for this event includes various educational session that aim to provide companies and professionals of the sectors with a set of comprehensive guidelines when it comes to trends, operations management, sustainability and technical regulatory. The Interbev event informs producers about the latest’s innovation in the field of beverages, enabling companies to remain up to date with the latest trends.

The exhibitions include installations for beer, bulk packing machines, water treatment equipment, class washing machines, disinfection equipment, cooling systems and many other demonstrations.

Check out the video to see how cutting-edge live presentations, happening right on the trade show floor, will add a whole new level of energy to InterBev 2010 – for exhibitors and attendees alike. (Source: http://www.interbev.com/about/multimedia-gallery/details/47/)

This event is not only useful for an economic standpoint, companies get to exchanges ideas while also having a good look at the competition, but it is also an important event to discuss sustainability when it comes to beverage production.

The archipelago of the Hawaiian Island was born millions of years ago. The Big Island is formed by volcanic activity and fosters one of the world’s largest mountains, Mauna Kea. According to the brand’s official website, “a US Geological Survey concluded that the waters of Kea’au are among the purest in the world” (Source: http://hawaiianspring.com/). This precious water source is kept alive due to the frequent annual rainwater falls that translate into 1.38 billion gallons on a daily basis, the amount needed “to supply all the bottled water consumed each year in America in 7.3 days! If you wonder about the purity of rainwater, there is one simple answer: natural volcanic filtration.  As the rainwater goes downhill it gets filtered by the lava, for an extra purity. The particularity of this water is the fact that it has been certified to be free of heavy metal and chemicals with a very minimal human intervention. The company’s sustainable section appears somewhat limited insofar it doesn’t present in a comprehensive manner the actions of corporate social responsibility undertaken by Hawaiian Springs. In addition there is no mention about the use of recycled plastic or the potential damages caused by the plastic water bottles. Yes, the source is sustainable but what about the water bottles?

In the past decades, due to population growth and industrialization the rainforest has suffered greatly from degradation. The wildlife in Hawaii is home to close to ten thousand unique species that need to be protect. As conservation is part of the Hawaiian culture, it is also an important value of the Hawaiian Springs bottled water. According to the company’s official website, “Hawaiian Springs donates a portion of its proceeds from bottled water sales to the Nature Conservancy each year in its effort to build awareness and support for the preservation of native Hawaiian endemic species, many of which are threatened with extinction” (Source: http://www.hawaiianspring.com/). The packaging of the bottles pays tribute to the local flowers, the Red Llima and the Nanu.

In addition, Hawaiian Springs is also sponsor of the 2010 Maui Film festival, another great way to give back to the community. Welcoming celebrities, journalists and curious tourists this even is a great opportunity to present the great touristic attraction and natural resources that render Hawaii such a gorgeous and unique island. The famous brand will furnish the festival and its guests with bottles of water as well as selling one liter bottles at an assigned stand. “Twenty percent of all proceeds will be donated to various nonprofit organization that volunter to staff the concession stand, including Habitat for Humanity, Women Helping Women, Na Leo Kakoo, Friends of Hookipa, and Haleakala Waldorf School” (Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100616005381/en/Hawaiian-Springs-Named-Official-Sponsor-2010-Maui). This year’s eleventh edition, welcomed top celebrities such as Zac Efron and Justin Chambers.

Hawaiian Springs, is Hawaii’s national water, pumped directly from the source with minimal human intervention. This water, drawn from an artesian at the mountain’s base is one of the purest waters. Sponsoring cinema event is a way for the brand to give back to the community while promoting the Hawaiian culture. The website nonetheless seems to lack a real coverage on the company’s coporate social responsibility actions.

Seafood is a healthy source of nutrients and proteins that is gaining popularity worldwide. In 2007, the United States reached their highest peak of consumption. While most of the seafood we consume is caught in the open ocean, there is a good proportion of it that originates from aquaculture. This industry is continuously expanding and “has grown at a strong and steady 8 to 10 percent over the past three decades and is expected to continue to expand at that rate for a while” (Source: http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/whyitmatters.html). For this reason WWF is committed to working on sustainable seafood culture in order to assure that quality seafood is farmed while respecting the environment and minimizing the negative impacts.

In 1999, after various publications and workshops on the shrimp farming, WWF in partnership with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) launched a set of roundtables called aquaculture dialogues that started in 2004. From farmers, to scientists without forgetting government officials, all the stakeholder involved are participating to these events in order to create standards that will minimize the key negative environmental and social impacts for the following species: shrimp, salmon, abalone, clams, mussels, scallops, oysters and many others. Every dialogue will be coordinated and guided by a WWF representative who will be the resources of references to all participants on that particular issue while also taking care of updating the content of the website. While many standards and certification programs for aquaculture already exist, they lack in efficiency and fail to truly make this industry more sustainable. Consequently, the Aquaculture Dialogues strive to provide efficient credible standards that are “science-based, performance based and metrics-based” (Source: http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/whatwearedoing.html). These standards won’t have the ambition to impose upon producers how to change their farming practices in order to render them more sustainable but will provide targets to be reached while giving the liberty to innovate in order to find a medium to the actual producers. It is also important for these standards to be measurable in order to provide a comprehensive and objective guideline with major credibility.

These standards will be presented to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) who’s task will be to transform them into reality. Founded in 2009 by the WWF, the ACS offers a leading program for certification and labeling for responsible farming. Working in collaboration with producers, retail and food service companies. “The overarching strategy of the ASC is to use market forces to transform aquaculture, which will be done by reducing the key negative social and environmental impacts of aquaculture through compliance with standards at the farm level” (Source: http://www.ascworldwide.org/index.cfm?act=tekst.item&iid=2&iids=39&lng=1). The strategy will be focused on the need to develop and launch a marketing program that will create demand for ASC products on the market. These products will have an added value provided by the adequate certification supplied by objective third-parties.

From salmon, to shrimp without forgetting tilapia the ocean offers us a vast quantity of resources that are vital to many population on the globe. The growing demand for seafood and the need to respect fishing laws and quotas, has brought to the increase of aquaculture. In order to protect endangered species and avoid over exploitation a set of standards need to be implemented and respected on the long-term.

This eco-friendly way to produce vegetables for home or sale consumption has seen a revival in the past years amongst a growing rate of Americans who want to grown their own greens. In this process, the waste produced by the fish becomes an automatic recycled form of nutrients for the plants. The water from the fish tank, rich in nutrients is pumped into the area where the plants are grown. “The plants clean the water of excess nutrients, the water is then oxygenated by simple means and is reused again and again in the fish rearing tanks” (Source: http://www.northernaquafarms.com/aquaphonics.html). Lettuce, chives, tomatoes and cucumbers all have successfully been raised in aquaponics; in addition to flowers such as rose or lilies. This simple process permits the recycling of water that would otherwise be considered useless waste. The functionally of this system is based on a mutual exchange: the plants purify the water while they get extra nutriments in exchange from the fish. This approach is totally eco-friendly since not only water is recycled, but also the usually chemical fertilizers are not need and cannot be used since they are harmful to the integration of the plants and fish. This system is revolutionary insofar a well operated structure uses “about one tenth of the water required for normal vegetable growing and reduces the water needed for single usage fish farming by 95% or greater” (Source: http://www.northernaquafarms.com/aquaphonics.html). This year long sustainable method of agriculture is particularly popular in Australia a country that has suffered numerous draughts.

In the United States, aquaponics seems to be at a early flourishing stage with a gradual increase in sales and demand. Rebbeca Nelson part of the Nelson & Pade company, publishes the Aquaponics Journal ( http://www.aquaponicsjournal.com/) and sells aquaponics systems in the USA. She has stated that subscriptions have doubled in the past years and she “estimates that there may be 800 to 1,200 aquaponics set-ups in American homes and yards and perhaps another 1,000 bubbling away in school science classrooms” (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/garden/18aqua.html?_r=1).  If you are intrigued by aquaponics but have long-term commitment issues, an Atlanta based company called Earth Solution sells kits on the internet called “ farm in a box” that range from a price of 300$  to 3, 000$.  According to experts, aquaponics will replace hydroponics on the long term considering that it has considerable advantages over the practice of hydroponics: first of all the nutrient source is organic since it derives from fish waste and second of all, aquaponics provides a protein crop that is lacking in hydroponics.

This environmental friendly system is quickly developing in the United States and soon enough the industry will develop for both salt and fresh water fish. The product seems to be the future of gardening at a time where the world is suffering from a world crisis and where every single drop of water can make the difference.  This system is totally organic and recycles water that maintains the fish alive and enables plants to grow. For countries that suffer from droughts this might be a revolutionary method.

The first kayaks date as far as 1900, they were constructed from driftwood and animal skins and used by the Inuits and other native tribes. ”Lashed together with animal sinews, these early boats used seal bladders filled with air to make the them buoyant and nearly unsinkable” (Source: http://www.kayakingjournal.com/kayak-history.html ). Caribou skins are soaked in water and once they are dried stretched as much as possible. Caribou fat was their secret to render to kayak waterproof. With the European colonization of North America, these practical means of transportation quickly conquered the heart and minds of the European people who quickly imported this invention in their homelands. Kayaks quickly became a recreational activity that capture water lover from France to Germany.  Around 1900, a German scholar, inspired by a Inuit design decided to build his own version of a collapsible kayak.  This “foldable” kayak could be carried around in a bag and quickly be assembled on the shore of a wetland.  This ancestor of the kayak became a favorite in Europe, being more practical to ride rivers than the large open boats previously used.

In 1936, kayak races became an official sport at the Olympics on 1936 in Berlin. Today the sport has evolved greatly and kayaks are now “built from covered frames or from shells of fiberglass or plastic. Durable marine or exterior-grade plywood is used for the frame while waterproof glue and mechanical fasteners join the wooden pieces” (Source: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Kayak.html). Today, kayaks can now be build with an eco-green perspective in order to respect the environmental that is so fundamental to this sport. Environmentalists can be thrilled at the idea that a kayak sheel can be constructed from recycled plastics. The central element to a plastic kayak is polyethylene. This waterproof material can be easily manipulated through simple heating or cooling procedures that render this material very useful for the construction of kayaks. “Adequate supplies of polyethylene recycled from plastic beverage bottles are now available with sufficient durability and strength for use in making kayaks. This is a valid alternative to the recycling of plastic bottles that will sure please all nature lovers.

Kayak is continuously growing in terms of popularity and the increasing curiosity for this sport is also driving continuous evolution from the technological and design point of view. The USA team put together a great performance at the Junior Sprint Tour. At the Nova Scotia regatta, team USA “reaching the podium 11 times against Team Ontario and six clubs from Nova Scotia” (Source: http://usack.org/news/2010/07/22/kahookele-nurmia-rack-up-the-medals-in-canada/37428). This sprint tour took off with stops in Lake Placid, N.Y. and Bochum in Germany. Today, the Olympic Games feature more than 10 different kayak events and it seems like the number will only grow in the future.

Mrs. Goldendiamondy has been like this all week! She just won’t leave Miss Evian alone for one second. It seems like she is always looking for excuses to talk to her or to steal her away from me. I am oh so happy that in the end Miss Evian decided to stay with us at the supermarket instead of trying to escape to go to the Rice-Castle with all of the other important French water bottles.  Oups! Yah, your right! I get confused all the time; it’s not the Rice-Castle but the Ritz Carlton! I still think that the “Rice-Castle” sounds so much funnier! I can just imagine a big castle made out of rice! Hahaha! But what is the Ritz-Carlton anyways?? Mrs Goldendiamondy told me it is a place like the supermarket but instead of being for bottles it is for real people. Sounds funny, I didn’t know they had people supermarkets as well… I need to ask Mrs Goldendiamondy to tell me more about those places like the Ritz, I think that they are called something like “botels”, or was it “motels”? No wait I am pretty sure they are called “hotels” now that I think of it!

Anyways, Miss Evian doesn’t need the Rice-Castle, she seems to be doing better at the super-market! Now that we have made peace we are really good friends and I like chatting with Miss Evian, she is very nice and funny. Last night, she was telling about her cousin from Australia, Aussie Bottled Water, who is being moved to America. Aussie comes from the town of Bundanoon in Australia. I don’t know about you but I think the name Bundanoon is absolutely hilarious! Well, anyways, getting back to my story, Miss Evian told me that Aussie was “deported” to the United States because Bundapoo, I mean, Bundanoon is the first city in the world to have completely banned bottled waters like me, from the shelves of all stores! I am not really sure what deported mean, but it doesn’t sound too good especially since Miss Evian told me that Aussie was so sad to leave her home. This is scary, they are trying to kick us out from everywhere! First the Rice-Castle and now Bundaboo!

Of course, right when Evian was telling me this story about her cousin, Aussie, Mrs. Goldendiamondy was spying on us and she immediately jumped in saying: “ once someone buys us and finishes all of our water we usually end up being discarded somewhere in the environment or in the ocean where the fish never welcome us in a very warm manner”.  I’ m not sure I understand what discarded means, but I sure know I love the beautiful ocean and the fish and I surely don’t want to get them mad.  I trust Mrs. Goldendiamondy, she is older than all of us here and seems to know many top secrets things! She sure is nice even if she is making me worry with all her talks about how we, plastic bottles, are so bad for the environment! At lunch, she even told me that we cost a thousand times more than normal water that comes from the sink !!! A THOUSAND TIMES!!! That sure sound like a lot! I hope our water has some magical powers because I really don’t understand why people would spend so much money on water they can get from their own kitchen. Maybe it is a grown up thing that I can’t understand who knows…! Oh! I have to run, or should I say, roll, tonight I am going to have lunch with Miss Evian!

(Source: http://www.thegreenguide.com/food/buying/bottled-water, http://www.justmeans.com/-Battle-Ban-Bottled-Water/20493.html)