Water Facts and Conservation Tips

Did You Know?

• There is about the same amount of water on Earth now as there was millions of years ago.
• Nearly 97 percent of all the world's water is salty or otherwise undrinkable.
• Another 2 percent is locked in ice caps and glaciers. That leaves 1 percent for all our needs.
• Water regulates the Earth's temperature. It also regulates the temperature of the human body!
• The average total home water use for each person in the U.S. is about 50 gallons a day.
• The average cost for water supplied to a home in the U.S. is about $2.00 for 1,000 gallons, which equals about 5 gallons for a penny.
• More water is used in the bathroom than any other place in the home. A dripping faucet can waste up to 2,000 gallons of water a year.

You Can Help Conserve Our Water Resources At school and at home, You can help protect our water resources.

• Turn off the tap in your bathroom while you brush your teeth.
• Take shorter showers. (Get a timer and time yourself.) Don't let the water run constantly while you're washing or rinsing dishes.
• Fill a pitcher with tap water and put it in the fridge, rather than running the tap every time you want a cold drink!
• Clean sidewalks and driveways with a broom--not the water hose!
• Water your lawn in the early morning to avoid evaporation.
• Repair dripping faucets.
• Place a layer of mulch around trees and plants to retain water.
  
  

UN culture agency celebrates life of poet, philosopher and spiritual leader Rumi

6 September 2007 – A demonstration of Sufi dancing, an exhibition of manuscripts, books and paintings, and an international seminar of scholars are among the events being held today by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of the poet, philosopher and Muslim spiritual leader Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi.
UNESCO said it would issue a commemorative medal in honour of the man known also as Rumi as part of the day-long programme being held at its headquarters in Paris. Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey have helped organize the festivities.
Born in 1207 in Balkh in what is now Afghanistan, Rumi is the author of the renowned Mathnawi or “Rhyming Couplets.” After being exiled, he spent most of his life in Konya, which is in present-day Turkey. Since his death in 1273, Rumi has come to be considered one of the greatest Sufi masters.
In a press statement UNESCO said today’s seminar brings together eminent scholars and philosophers from Member States to discuss themes relating to the thought, message and universality of Rumi.
A performance of Sufi dancing by troupes from Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey will also take place, while the exhibition of books, manuscripts and paintings relating to Rumi will remain on display until 14 September.

What should education do for building a world full of love and peace?

416 in Virginia Tech shocked the whole world. Our society needs love and peace, but what should education do for it?I think first we should educate our children to love the current society they live. That is, to educate the children to take responsibility for development of the world, or at least his/her own family. In order to achieve that, children would be taught how to use and create kinds of necessary tools for subsistence in this world. Consequently academic skills become the first thing for children to learn, which give children basic tools, such as calculation and communication, to live in this society.However, paying attention to academic skills doesn’t mean we should ask our children achieve exactly equally and similarly. Just as what Charles W. Eliot said, “promote pupils not by battalions, but in the most irregular and individual way possible.” The highest level of civilization is to respect. As for education, to respect our children is to admit they are gifted differently. That is the first reason for concentrating basic academic skills. A child will not know what interested him, mathematics or history, until he learned basic subjects to some basic extent. So learning broad academic skills will be helpful for children’s choice and for realizing society’s diversity. And the second reason can be expounded borrowing a metaphor. The area of triangular base of a pyramid determines the height the pyramid reach. In this way, a person’s knowledge seems like the area of the triangular base, and his contribution seems like the height of the pyramid: the broader his knowledge is, the more he might contribute to the society. Consequently, it is essential to let children learn broad academic skills.Secondly, children should be educated to love themselves. To wit, children should know what their rights are and how to enjoy their rights, which was also illustrated in “Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Fix the Site of the University of Virginia” .Thirdly and finally, children should learn to love and educate their offspring. Nowadays we are arguing about education and schooling, and in the argument almost everyone knows education should not only include school education, but also include factors from family, community and society. For example, if a child grew up in a society full of discrimination towards minorities, the possibility for him to treat others equally after he grew up would be almost zero. So in this way, environment affects children’s growth greatly. As illustrated in the former example, the child’s consciousness of discrimination probably came from public opinions, even though his school is integrated. Consequently, if we want to get a society without discrimination, it is essential to educate our children to respect and love others; and the starting point to achieve that is that adults should respect and love every other members in the society especially when they are together with their children. That is, any adults should “realize” their responsibility for educating children. Adults in current society cannot achieve that, but we should do our best to let our children achieve that “realization” when they became adults.