Urban Ecoist

If you have not heard or read about it, you may not know that frogs and amphibians are in trouble. Reports of declining numbers are coming in from all parts of the Earth, and if it helps, think of an amphibian as a canary in a coalmine. Amphibians are good bio-indicators of ecological health. This is mostly due to the fact that frogs and amphibians have permeable skin, and having such, amphibians tend to “soak up” pollutants and other chemicals more easily. The pollution also bio-accumulates in amphibians, so effects of said chemicals can be more palpable than in other creatures. Amphibians also spend their lives in both water and on land, so they get the, er, worst of both worlds. In other words, frogs are rather fragile, and when the world becomes too dry or polluted, they die.

So why not turn your little plot of potential wildlife habitat of a back or front yard into a frog sanctuary.

It’s easier than you think. But you will need to put in a pond. Ponds can be simple or you can go crazy. But if you ever needed a reason to put in a small pond in the backyard, this is it. Do it for the frogs.

Frogs like fresh water and lots of cover. If you have a bigger pond, you can have both fish and frogs, but for the most part, you may have to choose frogs over fish. You see, eggs and tadpoles are like candy to fish, so frogs won’t move in if fish are around. If you have one of those two-tier ponds, you could have frogs in the top and fish in the bottom. Or you try to create a barrier in your pond with rocks, which frogs also happen to enjoy.

Other things to keep in mind. Frogs need gently sloping walls, not straight ones. Also, make sure to include some aquatic plants in your frog pond. Keep your water clean, and as frogs are voracious insect eaters, you shouldn’t have to worry about mosquitoes, but of course, keep the water fresh and clean all the same.

If you are using city water, you may want to let the chlorine blow off of your water before adding it to your pond. Chlorine blows off fast when the water is left out in the sun. Frogs are sensitive to chlorine, so try not to add water out of the tap into your pond. Let it sit out in a bucket or four for a few days.

Outside the pond, have lost of groundcover plants and shrubs around the yard. Frogs don’t like a lot of direct sunlight, so if you have a shady garden, you are one step in the right direction already. Frogs also like rocks and logs around which to make their homes.

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As you may have guessed from my posts, I am really big into saving water. Despite the childhood in Michigan, surrounded by the Great Lakes and never really having to worry about water, I am acutely aware of the somewhat finite nature of water. Not finite, so much so that water will disappear, but rather that potable, clean fresh water can be looked at as finite.

So what seemingly little things can you do around your house or apartment to conserve water? You can switch to low-flow shower heads, low-flow toilets; you can install a grey-water collection system, but let’s say you rent your house or apartment or you simply don’t have the financial resources at the moment to convert your old-school plumbing into the newer, greener water-conserving systems — then you can always get yourself a bucket.

Notice I found a picture of an old, vintage-y looking bucket. I heart antiques, and it is recycling, afterall. But I disgress.

You know when you are waiting for your shower or kitchen sink to “warm up” i.e. start pumping out hot water instead of cold, you can collect that water that normally goes down the drain. You may not think that your faucets take that long to start kicking out the hot/warm water, but if you do this simple bucket technique, I think you will be surprised how much water you are wasting down the drain.

Obviously, take the bucket, put it under the faucet in question while you are waiting for warm or hot water. Voila. You have saved water that would normally go into the sewer system.

What can you do with that water is up to you. I tend to save the water from my kitchen sink to soak my dirtiest pots and pans so that when I do clean them it is that much easier and uses that much less water. But you can save the water for your pet’s water, or even your own drinking water. You can transfer it to a water pitcher in your refrigerator. Just keep your water pail clean or devote a pail just for drinking water. You can also use that water to water your houseplants or your outdoor garden. You can use the water for a birdbath, too. Birds really like fresh water, and will reward you with pesticide-free insect control around your yard.

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We hear a lot about carbon footprints, but what is your water footprint? I am a pretty low carbon girl, but wow, I was humbled by my estimated water consumption, i.e. footprint. And the biggest cause of my gigantic water footprint is my carnivorous nature. Meat is by far the largest component of my water footprint, and if you are also a meat-eater, I bet that your water footprint is equally large.

Much like the carbon Footprint calculator, you can enter in some numbers at Waterfootprint.org to determine your own water use.

The water footprint website is a great resource to educate yourself on how your favorite beverages, foods, clothing, industrial products consume water. So it is not necessarily how much water you personally use, it is much more about how the products you consume in turn consume water. For example, do you like beer? It takes seventy-five litres (19.81 gallons) of water to produce that pint (technically 16 ounces, but most bars serve a 14 ounce beer as a “pint”) of delicious ale or lager. But why so much water, you be asking? It takes a lot of water to grow barley, hops, and the other ingredients that go into beer. Not a beer drinker? That six-ounce glass of milk or juice takes even more water — roughly 44 gallons of water for a glass of orange juice, 50 gallons for apple juice, and almost 53 gallons for a glass of milk.

To really freak you out, one kilogram or 2.2 pounds of beef takes 15,500 litres or 4100 gallons of water. So if you ate an eight ounce steak last night needed almost 950 gallons of water to end up on your plate. Honestly, if the sheer volume of water needed to produce meat for consumption is not a strong argument for going vegetarian, I don’t know of a better one.

Granted, not everyone is willing to cut meat from their diets, and that is alright, but just remember that meat should be viewed at as a luxury, not a right. In the United States, we are a country of meat-eaters and until something major happens, that is not going to change. But what can change is how much meat we do consume and which meats we eat. Chicken requires only a quarter the amount of water as beef.

And I don’t mean to preach to anyone about eating meat or what not, but let’s use today’s topic as a jumping off point to discuss water consumption. Here is a map of the world in terms of water use.

Check out the Water Footprint website to calculate your own footprint and use that as a starting point to evaluate how and where you can cut back on your own water consumption.

I tend to focus on water resource issues, so I am sure I will revisit this topic in the future.

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