Do Something: Slytherin Family Water Competition

Hey Hippogriffs!

I've been checking out this website called Do Something. It's all about helping young people do things to make the world a better place. Sound familiar? Only they also have actions you can do that can actually win you prizes like laptops and college scholarships, how cool is that??  So I signed us up as a Do Something team and I'll be inviting you all to join the team soon - so keep a lookout for an email asking you to join. It's not spam, it's from me, really!

Browsing through the many great ideas they have listed, I noticed this one that we can do right now as Slytherins in our own homes, at this link and listed below.  Anyone want to try it? Let us know how it goes!

Also, looks like great minds think alike - they have one on marking storm drains. Theirs is about creating your own signs to mark them - I guess some areas don't have the official stickers that ours does. Speaking of which.... anyone else find some storm drains in your neighborhood? Let me know how many and I can order our stickers!!!

Thanks!

~Lynne

Slytherin Family Water Competition:

A typical American will use over 100 gallons of water per day. Host a contest that challenges each member of your family to reduce his or her water consumption.

1. Have each person write down everything that he or she uses water for in daily life.
2. Look up and assign water amounts to each activity on each person's list. For instance:
   • showering—4 gallons per minute
   • bathing in a full tub—36 gallons
   • flushing the toilet—4 gallons per flush
   • washing hands—4 gallons per minute
   • brushing teeth—4 gallons per minute
   • doing laundry—43 gallons per load
3. Now challenge everyone to see who can use the least water in one day. Assign a special prize or recognition to people who keep it below 8 gallons.

• Allow people to have unlimited amounts of drinking water (you don't wanna send people to the hospital).

When people report back, discuss what everyone learned. Ask questions like

• What was the hardest part of life without water?
• How long you think you could live with just 8 gallons of water each day?
• Who did you tell about the challenges of going without water when you were doing it? Did they know that people abroad deal with this problem every day?

Source: Southwest Florida Water Management District