Grow a Beard, Save the World
Save water: Grow a beard.
Andrew Sullivan links approvingly to this Budweiser press release:
Budweiser is asking adult men across America to help save one million gallons of water by not shaving in the days and weeks leading up to World Environment Day (June 5). As part of Budweiser’s ongoing commitment to water conservation, the Grow One. Save a Million. program allows consumers to get involved and save roughly 5 gallons of water for each shave they skip.*
Consumers 21 years of age and older can visit Budweiser’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Budweiser) to make a pledge and share the program with Facebook friends. Participants can commit to a range of options, from a few days to multiple weeks. Ladies can get involved by recruiting male friends or family members. The page also features a daily tracker of the gallons saved to date.
“Water is a key ingredient in the brewing of Budweiser and all our beers, which is why water conservation is a priority both inside and outside our breweries,” said Kathy Casso, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility at Anheuser-Busch. “In the past three years alone, our 12 U.S. breweries have reduced water use by 34 percent. Additionally, our employees and their families take action by volunteering to participate in local river cleanup projects in communities across the country.”
In 2010, more than 1,200 employees from Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch skipped shaving for one week prior to World Environment Day, helping to save about 42,000 gallons of water. This year, Budweiser is expanding the effort by inviting suppliers, partners, wholesalers, retailers and consumers to join the effort.
“Every gallon of water that we save makes a difference to our communities, so when thousands of people get together for one common cause, great things can happen,” said Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters and the face of the program on Budweiser’s Facebook page. “By pledging to skip shaving and ‘grow one,’ guys can literally wear their commitment to conserving our most valuable natural resource.”
You’d think such a campaign would be more likely to catch on during the cool months of the fall and winter rather than right as we’re breaking out the seersucker. At any rate, the OTB gang is doing our part. For the children.
Five gallons of water per shave? Are you kidding me? If you are the kind of person who just lets the water flow during the entire shave, for god’s sakes, man, turn off the tap!
Now I have to wonder if the used a bloated figure to merely make the program more attractive.
Does anyone read these press releases? It sucks being a cynic.
From the press release:
I put about a cup and a half of hot water in the sink, use it to clean off my razor periodically. Then I use another half cup or so to splash off my face.
How the hell could you use 10 gallons to shave? Are they including the water used to manufacture the shaving cream, shaving cream containers, razors, shaving systems, and aftershave? Plus transportation to the stores? Even then I’m skeptical.
An obvious attempt at enforcing Sharia law in the United States.
Or you could use an electric razor. I don’t use any water to shave.
Of course, Budweiser could do a lot more by getting rid of the swill that is their namesake and only concentrating on quality brews. Or you could just use a can of Bud as your shaving water which is a better use for it.
Interesting, that the ladies can help by encouraging their male friends but there is no call for the ladies to suspend shaving. I can’t imagine why.
“Water is a key ingredient in the brewing of Budweiser and all our beers, which is why water conservation is a priority both inside and outside our breweries,”
I thought this was all about the kids!?! College kids maybe…they drink a lot of beer.
And what is this about “saving” water?
Some folks seem to think that water down the drain disappears.
Used water at my hovel goes into the septic system where it is processed. The effluent (water) ends up in the creek which flows to the lake that is the source for the public water district I buy water from.
In other words it is recycled.
How about this campaign be gender neutral. Let’s see the gals do their part for World Environment Day. No shaved legs or armpits till June 5.
Wouldn’t that be more natural?
Oh, no. There’s a whole lot lost along the way.
I shave in the shower, but the shower takes the same time either way. If I don’t shave, I zone out more.
“And what is this about “saving” water?”
It’s short-hand. Water is certainly a local issue, and many folks have plenty (or even too much). Just the same, it’s a global trend for important populated or agricultural lands to face water shortages … and so it is a “global issue” without being really universal.
“Used water at my hovel goes into the septic system where it is processed.”
In California we “steal” water from the high mountains, ship it to the coastal populations, use it briefly, and then pump it into the ocean. That shortcuts much of the natural cycle, reduces groundwater, water for agriculture, etc. Though, after years of shortage, we suddenly have enough (via this past winter’s storms).
Or just conserve water by drinking Guinness beer instead of flavored water such as Bud Light.
Yes, I shave or at least trim occasionally, once a month or so. But why anybody scrapes their face with a sharp object daily, much less uses 10 gallons of water doing so, is beyond my comprehension.
And what is this about “saving” water?
Clearly, this has something to do with Comrade Obama and is a socialist plot. And Kenyan, don’t forget that part. Kenyans need water.
A.K. sez: “Oh, no. There’s a whole lot lost along the way.”
Water gets lost?? Do you mean the water molecules can never be found again??
I thought when water evaporates it is changing its form from a liquid to a gas.
Aren’t the molecules still in the atmosphere?
Maybe some of the water that is effluent from my septic system nourishes plants and animals on its way to the creek or the water table but that is hardly lost.
Water pumped into the ocean will evaporate and at some later time rain back on the earth.
How does water get lost?
What is clearly meant from context is that fresh water useful for use by humans is lost.
It doesn’t always evaporate. It can remain chemically bonded to effluent. It can end up in a river, lake or ocean and be taken out of the fresh water cycle depended on by a particular water system.
Or just rain back on the ocean.
You do know that a substantial portion of the United States gets its water from underground supplies? And that that supply is often replenished much more slowly than it’s used?
You do know that if water travels a long distance, say, from the rockies to Phoenix, then the water doesn’t always end up back at the origin, leading to lower levels for lakes and rivers, right?
Can you explain this concept to the people in Memphis, and Louisiana and elsewhere along the Mississippi River because I don’t think they understand it very well.
“Water is a key ingredient in the brewing of Budweiser and all our beers”
Umm, no. There’s a reason Bud’s ads show Clydesdales — they are the main provides of the liquid used in the stuff they sell.
I’d hate to break this to you, but the water cycle works differently in flood plains and deserts.
That said, flooding can cause significant disruptions in the availability of potable water, because it overwhelms treatment plants. Remember – we’re not just looking at water, we’re looking for water that can be used for agriculture and drinking water. Locations along rivers and coastal waters, such as the areas mentioned, can suffer shortages of water due to pollution. And there’s a substantial amount of groundwater in the area, too — and it’s being depleted faster than it’s replenished.
The only thing worse than shaving is having a beard.