Similar to ‘Movember’ were men grow a moustache for the whole month of November for charity, Budweiser are encouraging men across America to save water (not by drinking more beer!) but by putting down the razor and let the stubble grow in the weeks leading up to World Environment Day (WED) on the 5th June to raise awareness of how those in developed countries use water.
Budweiser estimates that each man uses 5 gallons (approx. 22 litres) of water on each shave; the campaign aims to encourage enough men to stop shaving to save one million gallons (3.5 million litres) of water. As part of its annual recognition of World Environment Day, Budweiser will be donating $150,000 to the River Network, to help support watershed conservation projects whose primary mission is to protect rivers and watersheds and to assist people struggling with water and environmental health problems, protecting habitat for fish and wildlife and reducing the country’s use of water and energy in each of the company’s brewery cities.
And it’s not just for men; women can get involved too by either by volunteering a man to grow a beard on their behalf or can simply pledge to become more water efficient by turning off the tap when brushing their teeth or cutting down of the time spent in the shower, they could even get hairy themselves by pledging to stop shaving their legs for a month..
Although on this side of the pond, Budwieser isn’t encouraging men to become hairy, there are plenty of events going on in the run up to World Environment Day. The University of Southampton is celebrating with a special seminar on the ‘RSPB Wallasea Island Project’ an engineering scheme to help shape Europe’s largest man-made nature reserve. Also the Emmanuel College in Cambridge are screening a film produced by the critic acclaimed and ecology-minded director Luc Besson and made by aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, giving you a view of 54 countries that will help spur you to more sustainable behaviour.
Whether it’s a neighbourhood clean-up, recycling more or simply being more water efficient, World Environment Day is a great opportunity for us to think about the future and what we can do to help it. So get your thinking cap on and decide how you’re going to celebrate.