14 facts to share at your 4th of July bbq.

As our nation celebrates its 236th birthday with fireworks, watermelon, jello and cool whip, EcoSalon gives you some Fourth-related factoids. Why? Because all barbecues need a know-it-all who can spout trivia while cooking one of our 4th of July recipes.

Best Gift Ever: On July 4th 1884, France presented the U.S. with Lady Liberty herself, after shipping the disassembled statue in crates across the Atlantic and re-building it in New York City.

Shacking Up: On July 4th, 1845, Henry David Thoreau decided to forgo all barbecues and fireworks by moving into his cabin at Walden Pond.

Rest in Peace: Three U.S. presidents have died on America’s birthday. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (the second and third presidents, respectively) died within hours of one another in 1826, while James Monroe (the fifth) passed away in 1831.

Hot Damn: Americans will consume roughly 155 million hot dogs on the fourth, which is perhaps the reason why the month of July is distinguished as National Hot Dog Month.

Lennon’s Independence: “Give Peace a Chance,” John Lennon’s first solo single, was released in the mother country on America’s birthday in 1969.

A Solemn Remembrance: The U.S. isn’t the only nation to celebrate its independence this week. Rwandans observe Liberation Day on July 4th, commemorating the end of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Hot Off the Press: The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to print the Declaration of Independence on July 6th, 1776.

Poet and the Patriot: On July 4th 1855, one of America’s finest and most controversial poets—Walt Whitman—published the first edition of his magnum opus, Leaves of Grass.

The Star Spangled Drinking Song: America’s national anthem has the same melody as “The Anacreontic Song,” which served as the title track of The Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen’s music club in London.

Birthday Buddies: Calvin Coolidge is the only U.S. president to share a birthday with the country he presided over; he was born in 1872.

Bottoms Up: The Fourth of July is America’s biggest beer-drinking occasion, with 63.5 million cases sold around the holiday, according to a 2009 Neilsen survey.

Independence From Whom?: A 2010 poll found that more than one quarter of Americans aren’t so sure just who our forefathers were fighting against.  

Parading Republicans: Apparently Fourth of July parades are a right wing thing. A 2011 Harvard study found that patriotic parades are more likely to turn kids into republicans rather than democrats and to boost republican voter turnout on election day.

America’s Finest: Nobel Laureate Marie Curie, the only scientist to ever win prizes in two different fields of study, passed away on July 4th, 1934.

Image: Marion Doss

The post Fourteen Pieces of July 4th Trivia appeared first on EcoSalon.

I’m a cynic. I trust no one and no thing until, well until I’m good and ready. Especially when facts and figures about green and government, poverty and hunger, and other woes of the world get thrown around. I’m the first to stand back and wait. I don’t jump because I know that hype sells.

What I’m getting at is repeated so often it’s become cliche, but it still holds: the truth is hard to find. And once we do track it down, how true is it on the scale of truthfulness? Sometimes we want so badly to believe the good and have faith in the progress, that we don’t question. We just scoop up and run.

There are some things we were told, that we wholeheartedly took as truths – Come to find out, they told us wrong!

For example, supposedly we’re better fed and have fewer deaths from war and at least slavery is over and done with, right? Wrong. More Americans than ever are on food stamps, more people are dead from the conflict in eastern Congo than any war since WWII, and there are more slaves at work today than at any other time in history. Unbelievable. And real.

Why are we so willing to believe the people or organizations that distribute the erroneous information? Are we so gullible – or just too tired?

In moments where my heart begins to sink at the gravity of this realization, and I am prepared to throw my arms up in disbelief and hopelessness, I’m then inspired by my colleagues, the writers and friends and others I’ve met, online and off, who won’t swallow the information they are given as if it’s a free lunch. They question everything, and oh how I love people who question everything.

Here’s to gratitude and thoughtfulness in 2011.

Image _lmaji_

The post Things We Thought We Knew About the World, That are Wrong appeared first on EcoSalon.

Considering that less than 1 percent of all the water on the planet is usable freshwater, we’re not nearly as careful as we should be with this precious resource. Here are some amazing facts to put things in perspective.

1. Set in the desert of Dubai, the Tiger Woods Golf Course uses 4 million gallons of water every day to maintain its lush appearance.

2. Since 1950, water usage in the United States has risen 127 percent.

3. Even though each person only requires 48 liters of water on a daily basis, individuals in the United States use an average of 500 liters, those in Canada an average of 300 liters and those in England an average of 200 liters.

4. Of all the water that enters each household, about 95% of it ends up down the drain.

5. With access to just 5 liters of water each day, more than a billion people in water poor regions around the globe survive on the same amount used to flush a toilet or take a 5-minute shower.

6. If you shorten your showers by just a single minute, you can save approximately 700 gallons of water in a month.

7. Letting the tap run when you brush your teeth wastes up to 4 gallons of water every time.

8. It takes an average of 300 gallons to water your lawn. During the summer, this can account for almost half of your water usage.

9. Every time you throw your clothes in the washer, you use about 50 gallons of water.

10. Another wasteful desert endeavor, the proposed Waveyards water park in Mesa, Arizona will require up to 100 million gallons of groundwater every year in an area that receives a mere 8 inches of rainfall in that time.

So, what can we do? Learn more about water conservation, and check out 100 ways you can conserve water.

Image: Prabhu B

The post 10 Amazing Facts about Water Use Worldwide appeared first on EcoSalon.