Student Senate’s Sustainability committee has launched a campaign based around Sinky, a talking cartoon sink, to encourage students to try out alternatives to drinking water out of plastic bottles.
Senior Rachel Watson initially made up the character as well as the slogan “Drink from the Sink” as a joke in a sustainability committee meeting last school year.
While Sinky was conceived as a joke, Edelmuth explained the serious issue behind the campaign of getting students to turn away from creating additional waste via single-use plastic bottles.
“The development of plastic is just not really great for the environment and when there are so many other alternatives like using reusable water bottles.” While the need for Knox to use less plastic water bottles in locations like the Grab-N-Go has been discussed by the sustainability committee, Director of Sustainability Debbie Steinberg explained that it was necessary to start with encouraging changes in behavior.
“Before we can stop people from buying bottled water, we need to teach them that there’s an alternative,” Steinberg said.
“Some of the countries they come from cannot drink from the sink,” Edelmuth said.
“I have a friend who in particular once he came here, I was filling my cup from the bathroom sink and drinking it and he tried to whack it out of my hand.” Edelmuth and Steinberg both affirmed that the water quality of the school’s sinks has been tested and assured to be safe.
“They like the plastic water bottle taste, which is actually caused by a chemical they intentionally put in plastic water bottles,” Edelmuth said.
While the Sinky campaign has been of zero financial cost, the Sustainability Committee is considering future projects such as attempting to distribute reusable water bottles out to the incoming freshman.
While this idea is just in the early stages of consideration, the committee is currently looking for potential companies to purchase the reusable bottles from.

After unsuccessfully petitioning district staff, the long-time Carpinteria resident appealed his denial and presented his case to the full board.
Director Korey Capozza requested an explanation of the development of the deposit requirement.
No members of the public appeared to speak during the open comments section of the board meeting.
District staff reported on developments in the solar energy installation underway throughout the CVWD.
Although detailed cost estimates were unavailable, Director Case Van Wingerden raised the numerous benefits of battery storage technology, recent advances that allow for long-lasting solar batteries capable of 2,000 production cycles, roughly 3,000 days, before requiring replacement.
Vice President Matthew Roberts strongly agreed, characterizing the system as one with “greater sustainability, a smaller carbon footprint,” which “doesn’t end up costing our ratepayers anything.” Officials then turned to the status of the advanced metering infrastructure work being undertaken by the district.
District staff estimated that 100 of roughly 4,500 meters in Carpinteria are misreporting usage levels, at an average rate of 9 percent, but expressed confidence that all units will be operating at full accuracy within two months.
Local hydrogeologist Michael S. Burke, representing Pueblo Water Services, presented a fact-filled annual report on district compliance with Assembly Bill 3030, provisions for local groundwater management.
As Burke noted, water level data is “extremely important, it’s how things manifest the groundwater world.” The hydrogeologist gave an expansive description of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP), an ambitious project to systematize well quality monitoring, and reported that “water quality has remained stable, with no significant trends.” Board President Polly Holcombe, noting “We were never out of the drought, the governor might have said we were out of the drought but we never were,” noted the effect of 2017’s above-average rainfall, which has led to water level recovery at most area wells.
Board members also passed Resolution #1049, recognizing long-time district employee Alonzo Orozco.

Climate change was on an accelerating course, 700 million people still lived in extreme poverty and conflicts in war-torn countries remained entrenched.
More than 815 million people remain hungry and an additional two billion people are expected to be undernourished by 2050, while almost a billion people have no electricity.
Furthermore, without action, the world’s average surface temperature rise is likely to surpass 3°C this century.
As the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) returns to the emirate this week, doubling down on those UN SDG’s — in particular, a push for better and more coordinated international action on climate change — has been earmarked as a key priority for this year’s agenda, as delegations from around the world, including Saudi Arabia, head to the UAE capital to discuss advancing the world’s sustainable development.
“We welcome the expanded pillars of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week as a means of attracting an even broader range of stakeholders to join the sustainability discussion and to innovate new approaches to addressing the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and energy access.” The focus on climate change (SDG 13) at ADSW will be a call to action for global leaders to get behind sustainability goals and turn the tide against climate change, under #WeAreCommitted, an online campaign which has brought together sheikhs, government ministers, ambassadors, business leaders and young innovators to share their commitments to sustainability.
Since the UN SDGs were established, GCC leaders in nations that are most likely affected by increasing average temperatures, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have been doing their part to push forward environmental programs and implement renewable energy projects that will reverse the impact climate change.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, led the way for renewable energy developments in 2018, with up to $7 billion worth of new tenders, according to an official from the International Renewable Energy Agency, while the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 aims to achieve the UN objectives by encouraging more investment in alternative energy.
Speaking to Arab News, Marine Pouget, policy advisor for climate politics and civil society in the MENA region at Germanwatch, which aims to tackle climate change, said: “Saudi Arabia is a key player for the energy and ecological transitions” to a more sustainable world, as one of the most important oil countries.
“This region is extremely affected by climate change, because of its natural dry climate.
“The (GCC) needs to reduce emissions, work on energy transition with ambitious targets for renewables, establish climate laws and legislation, and work on adaptation to tackle desertification, water scarcity and heat waves.” Adnan Z. Amin, director general of the IRENA, said ADSW has become the “premier meeting point for those invested in the transition to a sustainable world.” “The reason it is so important today… is that over the over past couple of years our attention has been focused on game-changing events.

The Board of directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, convened in Abidjan, approved 117 million Euros in financing for the implementation of the «Project to ensure the sustainability and security of access to drinking water» in Morocco.
The project «consists of securing access to drinking water in the provinces of Guercif, Zagora, Al Hoceima, Tangier and Beni Mellal, which have a population of 2.5 million, through new investments in treatment plants and drinking water supply networks», an AfDB statement said on Tuesday.
«Ensuring access for all to drinking water is the necessary prerequisite for any form of sustainable development.
This is a strategic contribution for us», said AfDB director general for the North Africa region, Mohamed El Azizi, at the time of the project’s approval.
By ensuring sustainable access to drinking water to meet the needs of the population and industrial operators, the program addresses two of the Bank’s five priorities, namely «Improving the living conditions of African populations» and «Industrializing Africa».
The half-century-old partnership between Morocco and the AfDB Group includes more than 160 projects and programs with a total financial commitment of more than 10 billion dollars.
These funds, more than 80% of which are dedicated to basic infrastructure, cover various sectors, notably energy, water, transport, agriculture and social development.

There are currently more than 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste sitting in landfills or accumulating in the ocean, where it chokes and poisons marine life.
maxthanakorn/Shutterstock London-based bottled water company Choose Water has developed a biodegradable and recyclable water bottle with the intention of reducing the amount of toxin-laden, ocean-smothering plastic containers that are used and tossed every day.
The vessel is made from 100 percent recycled paper pulp that is vacuum formed around a sustainably sourced watertight lining and topped with a thin steel cap, according to inventor and company founder James Longcroft.
So no matter where it ends up, it won’t do any damage,” Choose Water states on their IndieGoGo campaign page.
A recent study has calculated that a staggering 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic products have been produced since the 1950s, and 79 percent of these items were not recycled or incinerated.
Putting his University of Durham chemistry degree to good use, Longcroft spent a year tinkering with formulas for a fully functional yet fully guilt-free design.
The end result is his proprietary waterproof lining material that prevents leaks when in use but begins to break down immediately when submerged in water or exposed to the conditions of a landfill.
The production is only 5 pence (7 cents) more per unit than that of creating a plastic container.
The £25,000 target of the IndieGoGo campaign will reportedly help work out a few last-minute design improvements and expand the scope of production.
“We can’t get our bottles onto shelves without you guys.

McGill says it currently sells about 85,000 plastic water bottles every year and thousands more are distributed at special events.
(Navneet Pall/CBC) Plastic water bottles will soon be a thing of the past at McGill, as the university plans to phase out the sale of bottled water on its campuses over the next 14 months.
Non-carbonated bottled water will no longer be sold in vending machines and anywhere food is sold on McGill’s downtown and Macdonald campuses by May 2019, the university said on Friday.
François Miller, director of the McGill Office of Sustainability, told CBC News he was "convinced" the move has popular support at the school.
He said McGill currently sells around 85,000 single-use, plastic water bottles every year and thousands more are distributed during special events.
(Navneet Pall/CBC) "We think that by phasing out those bottles over the course of the next 14 months, it will have a large impact on McGill’s sustainability in general," Miller said.
McGill says it will improve existing water fountains and build 25 new ones as part of the $150,000 project.
She said it will be great to have more water fountains on campus.
Sayeef Mohammed, a mechanical engineering student at McGill, said getting rid of plastic water bottles campus-wide is "a great initiative in trying to make [it] more sustainable."
Bottled water is "a luxury that is completely unnecessary," Mohammed told CBC News.

But the prospect of "Day Zero" — the day when the South African city runs out of water — is a whole new reality.
Liesel James is busy collecting what the family calls "gray water" from around her house.
“I’ll collect this and put it down the toilet, or take it out to the garden for the plants," she said.
"But we have to make sure we only use organic cleaning products so we don’t pour chemicals on the food we are trying to grow.” This story is part of an upcoming “Nightline” report.
“I think I’ll sell it.” Watch the full story on ABC News’ "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:35 a.m.
“I don’t think enough people are doing this,” says Liesel.
“Maybe people really need the pressure to make them think outside of the box.” With nearly 4 million residents, Cape Town is South Africa’s second-most populous city.
Each person is allowed to use only 50 liters (13.2 gallons) per person per day from their taps.
“South Africa is probably one of the most unequal countries in the world,” Kevin says.
I liken it a lot of the time to how people must feel when there’s imminent war.

According to UNICEF, there are 2.1 billion people in the world that do not have access to safe drinking water.
It is amazing to think that in the near future, there is a possibility that many people will die from a lack of drinking water.
One has to examine what happened to Cape Town to understand what could possibly happen here.
A concerned population rises, a major drought hits, and the elements are in place for a real life disaster movie.
Nature Conservancy did a global survey of water supplies for cities.
In fact, Mexico City has 21 million people living there, and they only have access to running water for just part of the day.
Ways to Conserve Water There are steps we can all take to make sure that our ancestors will have enough clean water to live off of as well and ensure that this planet can keep on supporting life.
Waiakea Water has been growing year by year ever since.
Waiakea Water was originally created to make positive changes throughout the world.
With the lack of clean water available to many regions of the world, this is where Waiakea definitely steps up to the plate.

According to UNICEF, there are 2.1 billion people in the world that do not have access to safe drinking water.
It is amazing to think that in the near future, there is a possibility that many people will die from a lack of drinking water.
One has to examine what happened to Cape Town to understand what could possibly happen here.
A concerned population rises, a major drought hits, and the elements are in place for a real life disaster movie.
Nature Conservancy did a global survey of water supplies for cities.
In fact, Mexico City has 21 million people living there, and they only have access to running water for just part of the day.
Ways to Conserve Water There are steps we can all take to make sure that our ancestors will have enough clean water to live off of as well and ensure that this planet can keep on supporting life.
Waiakea Water has been growing year by year ever since.
Waiakea Water was originally created to make positive changes throughout the world.
With the lack of clean water available to many regions of the world, this is where Waiakea definitely steps up to the plate.

Reliable access to clean water for drinking, agriculture and sanitation is one of the biggest challenges facing the 135 million people who live in Africa’s Sahel region.
Fortunately, this vast area—covering 5 million square kilometres from western Africa to central and northern Africa—is also home to rich bodies of water underground.
Through a technical cooperation (TC) regional project carried out from 2012 to 2017, the IAEA provided equipment and trained local scientists from 13 Member States—Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo—to help manage these joint water resources in support of sustainable socioeconomic development.
Water resource management capacities in the region have been enhanced, and an active and engaged network of local counterparts is now in place.
Building on the scientific evidence acquired during this earlier TC regional project[1], as well as complementary data from current and previous IAEA and development partner activities in the region, the IAEA and these same Member States recently launched a new TC regional project[2] to address remaining capacity and information gaps through additional and improved data collection and interpretation, and training.
Experts presented the IAEA’s Water Availability Enhancement (IWAVE) methodology and approach, working with counterparts implementing this framework to agree on roles, responsibilities, and mechanisms for coordination and communication.
The meeting also covered case studies and identified a series of IAEA activities, from supporting post-graduate technical education to equipping national laboratories, that will help participating countries achieve self-reliance in analytical work.
[1] RAF7011 ‘Integrated and Sustainable Management of Shared Aquifer Systems and Basins of the Sahel Region’.
Australia provided in-kind contributions.
[2] RAF7019 ‘Adding the Groundwater Dimension to the Understanding and Management of Shared Water Resources in the Sahel Region’