Sustainable idea for your backyard pool.

If you are one of the millions of people who have a backyard pool and you realize that it is not conducive to a sustainable lifestyle here is an awesome idea for converting it into a garden. In case you did not realize that a pool is not sustainable here are some reasons why: there is a fresh water shortage in the world and particularly in California, Nevada, Arizona and other hot dry states.  On average pools require thousands of gallons of water to fill them up exacerbating this problem. The chemicals used to keep your pool clean and bacteria free off gas into the environment and chlorine in particular is a major health hazard to your lungs and other mucous membranes.  A salt water pool is better for your health and the environment but you are still using massive amounts of water to fill that pool.  If you live in a cooler climate you may also be heating your pool and of course that requires large amounts of energy increasing your carbon footprint and your impact on the world’s limited resources.  So take a look at this video and if you have been wondering what to do with that pool, this is a great idea.

My 9 year old son showed me this video and I think it is fantastic what these people have done with their pool.  My son learned about this in his grade 4 class during their environmental chapter.  As a result, he has added solar panels on his roof and a garden pool in his Minecraft world.  I love how he has integrated the ideas from school and our own solar panel installation on our roof to his virtual game play.  The more kids see and learn about ways to be sustainable, find their own way to integrate it into their thinking and apply the concepts, the better our world will be in the future.

For more information on garden pools visit their site here.