It May Sound Like a Potty Humor, But This Campaign to Conserve Water is Serious Business

California’s drought has marked one of the worst on record, with 100 percent of the state affected. But while some parts of the state are completely tapped out, other areas continue to use water with little regard. Which is why a group of San Francisco entrepreneurs got the bright idea to turn an old money-saving trick into one that could help California save 6 billion gallons of water in just three months.
The Drop-A-Brick project began as a joke among the group about the double meaning of “dropping a brick,” but became an actual solution once the group recognized just how much Californians were flushing away.
Placing a brick in your toilet’s tank can save around a half of gallon of water per flush (a family of four save around 50 gallons a week). For a state under such dire conditions as California, it’s a method worth trying.

“We realized that toilets are the number one user of water in the home,” says Greg Hadden, one of the founders of the project. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates about 26.7 percent of municipal water is flushed away at residential households and California, in particular, wastes around 203 million gallons each day.

“All of us felt that while we were in this huge drought, there’s a massive lack of awareness of it. Nobody really seemed to understand how serious the situation is,” Hadden tells Fast Company

After researching the practice, Hadden said they realized that actual bricks can dissolve, cause clogging and lead to a pricey visit from the plumber. Instead, the group decided to design their own lightweight, environmentally-friendly rubber brick. Their unique version contains a dye tablet to help identify leaks as another means of water conservation and also ships flat in the mail, plus it doesn’t expand until added to water thanks to a hydrogel technology. The brick is also adaptable and can be formed into different shapes based on toilet design.

“While we’d like to get a lot of bricks out there — we think it’s a great icon for a public awareness campaign — really what we’d like to do is just get people thinking about urban water conservation and how to save water at home,” Hadden says.

The Drop-A-Bricks project is crowdfunding via Indiegogo and is also accepting additional donations to send extra bricks to some of the state’s worst areas that are relying on outsourced water. While the campaign is taking a lighthearted approach to raising awareness about the “big bowl movement,” the drop-a-brick project is a real solution to helping Californians conserve their valuable H2O.

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MORE: The Silver Lining to California’s Terrible Drought

When a Tragic Accident Injures a Chef, His Generous Community Steps In

This man always took care of his community, and how his community is looking after him.
Mamadou “Sav” Savanè, the owner and head chef of Sav’s Grill & West African Cuisine in Lexington, Kentucky is known for being one of the nicest people in town. Case in point: Yelp reviewers consistently pile praise on Savanè’s food and how he takes the time to thank new and returning customers alike.
So when the beloved restauranteur suffered a horrific fall, his town was there to pick him right back up.
According to reports, Savanè was hospitalized after he accidentally slipped and pulled 20 gallons of boiling peanut sauce onto his body. He sustained second-degree burns on 50 percent of his body, including his face, neck, arms and torso.
MORE: A University Community Bands Together to Help One of Their Own Walk Across the Graduation
The spill could have been devastating on Savanè’s family — his absence and medical bills could have forced the restaurant to close. However, in stroke of luck, Savanè had taught his son, Bangaly, all his recipes just one month before the accident. As Savanè recovers in the ICU, Bangaly, his mom and sister, and a few volunteers and employees have been holding down the fort.
“By the time I am well, the restaurant would have been bankrupt,” Savané told the Today Show. “I’m so proud of [Bangaly]. In the last two weeks, he grew up very, very, very fast.”
Even more incredibly, as word got out about the accident, the community responded with overwhelming support, raising enough money to keep the restaurant open and to help Sav with his medical bills.
A family friend, Chuck Creacy, set up a GiveFoward account, which collected more than $60,000 since the accident.
ALSO: When a Former Campus Legend Became Homeless, This Amazing Community Stepped Up
“Sav’s just the nicest fella in the whole world. You want to help him because he works really hard — he works seven days a week — he has this huge, contagious smile, his food is wonderful and everyone loves him,” Creacy told Today. “And we have an amazing community — very generous people.”
There was even a fundraising party to help the Lexington restaurant owner get back on his feet. As ABC36 reports, only about 600 people were expected to attend, but about 1,300 showed up in just the first 45 minutes.
Savane knows that despite his nasty fall, his community has his back.
“We’re infinitely indebted,” he told WKYT. “It’s unbelievable the support, the love, and the caring that we’re getting from everybody. It really shows that Kentucky has a true sense of commonwealth. That word hasn’t meant much to me until this incident has happened.”
DON’T MISS: When One Man Lost His Home to a Fire, This Community Did Something Remarkable

This Man Took on Washington to Fight for Startups—-and Won

Rafe Furst says he’s a “junkie” for entrepreneurship. He’s been investing in and launching small businesses since 1996, and last year he helped push through legislation that made both a whole lot easier. It’s called the JOBS  (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act, signed into law on April 5, 2012, and it legalized crowdfunded investment in the United States. This gives private businesses and startup companies the ability to raise small amounts of money from many investors, rather than asking a few for larger sums. Furst believes that by allowing small businesses to cast a wide net, more will get funded and as a result, more will succeed.
This year he and fellow entrepreneur Chance Barnett launched their own online platform, crowdfunder.com, to help small business raise money through crowdfunded investment.