On my laptop screen, I see 108-pound Cayley carrying 20 kilos of water on her shoulders, barefoot. Is she crazy? Maybe a little. But the insanity is all for a good cause.
Posted by Banana TV a few weeks ago, the video is captioned: “Every Drop Counts – Day 1 – What did I get myself into?!” I had seen a few videos made by the founders of Banana TV – island residents Cayley Mackay and Nicole Erato. Their YouTube channel aims to spread the vegan lifestyle by creating educational videos. This video was already generating a lot of buzz, and as soon as I watched it I understood why.
For 14 days, Cayley and Nicole (including their four pets) will be turning off all the taps in their home as Cayley collects every drop of water they’ll need for drinking, cooking, cleaning, laundry, brushing their teeth, etc. To accomplish this, Cayley needs to walk an average of 8.6 kilometres on a daily basis to collect and carry a total of 10 litres of drinking water and 20 litres of potable water. Oh! And she will be doing all this barefoot!
Why? There is a list of reasons: To create awareness about the privilege of our “unlimited” source of fresh water; get people talking about the fact that 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water; make people mindful of their own water-consumption; motivate people to save water; and ultimately to inspire people to go vegan.
I sat down with Cayley and Nicole to get the full story on Banana TV and the “Every Drop Counts” 14-day experiment.
Why did you become vegan?
Nicole: Initially, it was because I was looking for a healthy way to lose weight. After doing a lot of research, vegan seemed the way to go. I decided to try it for two weeks. I noticed changes in my body and my mood very quickly. I felt amazing. I also kept on doing research, and found many other reasons why veganism was not only good for our health but also for our planet. Those two weeks turned into three months and now it’s been four years.
Cayley: Nicole and I were living together, and we just ate different meals at first. I would do my grocery shopping and she would do hers. I was noticing the positive changes in Nicole: she was losing weight, her acne was clearing up, and she told me that she felt great. I was hesitant at first to try the vegan diet – I really loved cheese and ice cream – but eventually I told her, “Don’t get excited, but I am going to try being vegan for two weeks.” I never went back since. It’s hard to describe, but it is kind of like when you are a bit sick and have a foggy head; and then when you get better, that fog is lifted and you notice the difference. It was like a lifetime of fog that I did not even know existed was gone.
How was Banana TV formed?
Cayley: We were at the Woodstock Fruit Festival where we met a guy named Durian Rider and his girlfriend Freelee. Both of them have YouTube channels and are big names in the vegan community. They were the ones who told us that we should start our own YouTube channel.
Nicole: We were both vegan by that time, and both really delving into health, plant-based nutrition and the vegan lifestyle. I grew up with being told that animal products are healthy, that they are necessary, and that you need meat for optimal nutrition and protein. The more I researched and realized that I felt healthier on a vegan diet, the more this was proven untrue. How was I so misinformed?
Why don’t more people know this?
Cayley: So much of the good and true information was not reaching the masses. After being inspired by Durian Rider and Freelee, social media seemed the way to go and this is how Banana TV was created, also our YouTube channel, instagram, twitter, periscope, facebook and our own website. We really believe that everybody deserves to have access to the right information, and our goal is to spread this in an educational, fun and tangible manner.
How did your YouTube channel grow from there?
Nicole: Our first video we did was interviewing Freelee. It was pretty bad. We were complete newbies and knew nothing about video-production. It was all about trial and error.
Cayley: I took an online class for a certification in Plant Based Nutrition through E-Cornell University. Whatever I was learning, I put into a video. It took a lot of time in the beginning, redoing it dozens of times. Like Nicole said, “Trial and error.”
Nicole: The first experiment kind of just happened; we were eating bananas like crazy – around 30 a day, and this led to prove that you could basically eat as much as you want on a high carb, low fat vegan-diet and not gain any weight. We noticed this was more entertaining for our viewers and offered substantial proof.
Cayley: It is very common to hear information or statistics, but if you actually SEE someone downing a 20-banana smoothie, and SEE that the person doesn’t feel sick from a potassium overdose, it’s better than just hearing it.
Why did you create the “Every Drop Counts” experiment?
Cayley: A few years ago, I volunteered in South Africa, a township called Khayelitsha just outside of Cape Town. It has a special place in my heart. There I noticed the water crisis. I did some research and found out that 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean and safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people do not have adequate sanitation facilities. This isn’t because we don’t have enough fresh water recourses in the world. It is just that it isn’t being distributed properly.
Nicole: Some 20-33% of fresh water in the world is used for animal agriculture. To produce just one pound of beef, it takes 2,500 gallons of water. You need to grow the crops the animal eats, water the animal and clean the slaughter house; and there’s packaging, transportation, etc. One pound of potatoes on the other hand only takes 60 gallons of water. Because of this big difference in water consumption between plant-nutrition and animal-based products, it links directly to veganism. When you go vegan, you don’t just save the animal, you save water, land and even CO2 emissions.
Cayley: The United Nations’ refugee agency estimates that more than half of the world’s refugee camps don’t have the recommended minimum daily water requirement of 20 litres per person. To put this in perspective, the average American uses between 320 and 380 litres (80-100 gallons) each day! People have to walk up to six hours on a daily basis. Women can’t work and kids are not going to school just because they have to collect enough water a day to survive. But when I rattle off these statistics, many people listen with a glazed look in their eyes. Only when they feel, see and hear the pain does that look go away and they don’t just see statistics. So we decided to do an experiment.
How is the “Every Drop Counts” experiment set up?
Cayley: For the drinking water, I collected two 5-litre water (10kg) bottles sponsored by Heavenly Water. For the potable water (for cleaning, laundry, shower, etc.), I walked to Caribbean International Academy, 3.4km each way. For this, I used a 20-litre (20kg) water container. I also decided to walk without shoes, that being the case for many others. I decided to do this for two weeks, which we all have to realize is extremely short, compared to most who do this for their entire lifetime.
How did you experience the experiment?
Cayley: The first day was all about learning. I noticed that I had no idea how much water I used! I woke up in the morning and realized I couldn’t wash my face, drink, and use the toilet – in that order. My day started and I immediately thought, “What have I gotten myself into?”
First, I decided to collect the drinking water because my family and I were thirsty! Once I was at the store and picked up the jugs weighing 10kg in total, I got a bit nervous, especially after I was pretty tired from walking just 750 metres. I also realized that I had to carry twice as much and walk a lot longer distance to get enough potable water for the day.
At the end of day one, I had bruises all over my arms, back and hips. It took me three hours and 32 minutes in total to collect the 30 litres of water for our day. After that first day, I just felt this huge wave of gratitude. I CHOSE to do this; 1.1 billion people NEED to do this.
Thinking about the second day was intimidating; my whole body hurt. The second day, I tried to carry the jugs on my back with a sheet, which didn’t go so well. The third day, I took two jugs and split the water, which helped a little. The fourth, I used a strap and towel, which helped distribute the weight a little. Day six and seven were the worst.
On day six, I had continuous spasms in my back and just had tears rolling over my cheeks for the rest of the long walk; day seven was a continuation of this pain. On top of that, the heat was seriously irritating my blisters as I also stepped in glass. I was so tired. My body did become stronger and used to the pain as the days went along, but I always ended up falling to my knees at least a few times.
Nicole: It was hard looking at Cayley. I even tried to convince her a few times not to keep on going. But I knew that even though it hurt me to watch her, she was in a lot more pain. I am so proud of her, and just tried to use as little water as possible during those two weeks. Every drop really started to count for both of us.
Why did you keep on going?
Cayley: Gratitude and the positive feedback of others. I just kept thinking how lucky I was. I could just turn on a tap, and have fresh water, a basic need, and survival running and running at my fingertips.
How did it feel once you finished the two-week experiment?
Cayley: I was emotional. I don’t know if I was relieved – I think I just really hoped that I had inspired people. I was so happy with the coverage our experiment and message had gotten. The reaction of people was overwhelming, motivating and heart-warming. We even got a few persons to commit to trying to be vegan for a day, a week or even two. Four weeks later, some are still vegan!
At the end of the two weeks, I had walked a total of 120.8 km. I had collected 354 litres of water weighing 354 kilos in total. This took me one full day, 15 hours, eight minutes, 29 seconds. An average American uses 320-380 litres a day – the same amount my household used in those two weeks.
Imagine! I would have to collect those 354 litres seven more times for one pound of beef! For one gallon of milk, I would have to walk those two weeks three more times. You can cut down so much of your daily water consumption by just going vegan. The message is not about making people feel badly about having tap water, but just realizing how lucky they are and that they can make a difference by being more conscious and save more water.
What will be happening in the future at Banana TV?
Nicole: More experiments! We also decided that we would make the “Every Drop Counts” experiment a yearly event, make it bigger and more interactive each year. We want to reach and educate as many people as we can. We have over 600 videos now full of information and we will keep on adding more! We want to spread the vegan lifestyle across the globe! Eating high carb, low fat, “low” protein, vegan is the most sustainable, environmentally friendly, health conscious, compassionate way to eat. Not only are you benefiting your health, but also the animals and the planet. There is so much misinformation out there and we believe that everyone deserves to know the truth about the fuel we put in our bodies every single day. Our motto of “Spreading the Fruit” is encouraging everyone to take off their blinders, get educated, live their lives to the fullest and, ultimately, to pass it on.
I have always been a meat and dairy lover, and am not sure if I want to give that up, but I cannot deny that talking to Cayley and Nicole did inspire me. Go vegan for two weeks? I’m sure most of us have tried or gone through harder tasks than that. So I will go vegan for two weeks and do my own research on the health and environmental benefits. To those who read this, try it too! What do you really have to lose, besides a few pounds?
To check out Banana TV and watch the “Every Drop Counts” episodes, surf to www.youtube.com/livebananas. Cayley and Nicole also offer online health coaching at www.spreadthefruit.com. Follow their message and journey on Instagram/Twitter/Periscope at nicabananatv and nicolereps.
By Laura Bijnsdorp
