April Showers

I haven't figured out the winters in Colorado yet. The year before I moved here the Metro area was hit my a series of blizzards over Christmas that trapped people in their homes for weeks. It was so severe that it resulted in a Blizzard Baby Boom nine months later. I was so worried I bought a new car before I moved. Since then the storms have pathetic, and the snow doesn't stay around for long. Last week temperatures in Denver were in the 70s for the Tax Day Tea Party (more on that to come), but on Friday the biggest storm of the season hit. Coloradans are horrible drivers in the snow, so I took a Snow Day and stayed home. By Friday night we had 8-10" of wet, heavy snow on the ground. It's the most snow I've seen since I left Utah, and it was beautiful.

The storm continued through Saturday and the snow turned to rain. Rivers of water and slush ran through the streets.

Today temperatures reached the 60s and the snow is all but gone.

I'm so disappointed. I wait all winter for snow. It finally comes in April and it's gone in 36 hours. On Tuesday the temperature will be back in the 70s.

Guess what!

I've been neglecting this little blog because I've been working on another blog (see previous entry) . That blog has been part of a competition entry for a design conference called Tasmeem. The competition is to identify an issue dealing with water and generate design solutions for the problem. I worked on the project with a friend and we focused on the 1.2 billion people who don't have access to a source of clean drinking water and the 6,000 children who die every day from a water-borne illness. It's a little outside the realm of interiors, but it was fun to apply what I've learned to another area of design.

I just found out that we won! The prize is all expense paid trip to Qatar for a sustainable design conference in March. The speakers are some of the best in the world - David Suzuki who spoke at Greenbuild, Cameron Sinclair the founder of Architecture for Humanity, Susan Szenasy the editor of Metropolis, and other architects and designers from around the world.

Yes, that's right! I'm going to Qatar! Where in the world is Qatar?! Here it is:


Yes, I know. It's in the Middle East. But the safe part of the Middle East. I promise.

Qatar has mosques . . .


. . . and luxury resorts . . .


. . . and camels . . .


. . . and this giant pearl.

It is also the home of Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar who is sponsoring our visit.

I'm so excited!

Experiment

I'm starting a blogging experiment. I want a blog to save the world.

We all know the power that blogs have to bring people together, people who would never have met otherwise. Blogs can entertain and inform and shape our lives in unexpected ways. I want to take this power and use a blog to help those who need it most.

Over 1.1 billion people in the world, right now, don't have access to a clean source of drinking water. Children are hurt the most - 1.5 million children under the age of five die every year from water-born diseases. Every one of these deaths is preventable.

Just by having access to a computer puts every one of us in a position of great privilege and power. What will you do with that power?

I want to do something, so I'm starting another blog to explore what we can do to address this global crisis. We are all affected by the way water is used and misused, whether we realize it or not. My new blog will be a discussion of what we can do. I don't know what form it will take. It is something that I hope will start a discussion and grow as we try to figure this out together.

So please visit Water Is . . . I chose that title because water is so many things, to so many people. Water is hope, it is freedom, it is power, it is life. I will update it daily, so check back and help me find ways to make it fun, as well as informative. Together we can save the world, even if it is for one person.