By Miguel Melendez, Project Leader and Staff Writer for Save The Water™ | March 4, 2015
Since 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly first designated March 22nd as World Water Day, each year has brought with it a critical look at a specific area of concern. World Water Day 2015, through it’s theme “Water and Sustainable Development,” endeavors to explore how deeply interconnected water is to various public systems, to include food, health, urbanization, industry, energy, and equality, and how we can transform them by employing a comprehensive strategy of sustainability.
Events are planned around the country and range from conferences to synchronized meditation. We would like to turn your attention to a few that will be hosted in the United States:
Institutions of higher learning, including Columbia University, Oklahoma State University, University of Miami, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, are planning seminars and panels to inform the public about both local and global issues.
The Champlain Basin Education Initiative will host their second annual celebration of World Water Day in Burlington, Vermont on March 19th and showcase student work highlighting the importance of water.
A social awareness initiative, sponsored by Crescenta Canada Rotary Club, entitled “Walk for Water” will be held in Glendale, CA, on March 21st, and feature participants carrying 20-liter water containers to display how people in the developing world access water.
Some US-based organizations are suggesting ways to help from home, such as The Surfrider Foundation, who is asking folks to skip a shower in honor of the day, and unify.org, who is calling for a day of global meditation and prayer.
Finally, as the United Nations Headquarters in New York City holds its third session of Post-2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations, additional events are expected, including presentations from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, the World Food Program, and the UN Millennium Campaign, as well as the Water for Life Voices exhibition.
For a comprehensive list of events planned for World Water Day 2015, including those abroad, please visit the official website’s event page.
References:
- http://www.unwater.org Accesed March 1, 2015.
- http://water.columbia.edu/research-themes/americas-water/ Accesed March 1, 2015.
- http://water.okstate.edu/events/okstate-water-week Accesed March 1, 2015.
- http://waterday.illinois.edu Accesed March 1, 2015.
- http://watershedmatters.lcbp.org Accesed March 1, 2015.
- https://aidafricablog.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/walk-for-water-for-world-water-day/
- Accesed March 1, 2015.
- http://unify.org Accesed March 1, 2015.
- https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/sdgsandtargets Accesed March 1, 2015.
- http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/waterforlifevoices.shtml Accesed March 1, 2015.
- http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/events/en/ Accesed March 1, 2015.
