Have you ever taken a step back and really looked into some
of your everyday rituals that could be affecting the world? Well today I did
just that. There are many things that would not be challenging to change if I just
put a little effort into it.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I’m
not in a hurry in the morning I don’t pay attention to how long I am in the
shower, at all! This morning I got in the shower at around 6:52 and by the time
I got out it was 7:11. That is a 19 minute shower! On average people use about
2 gallons of water for every minute the
y are in the shower. That means this
morning alone I used around 38 gallons of water. If I cut 5 minutes out of my
shower each morning I could conserve more than 3,600 gallons of water a year. It
would not only save water, but also save energy (and it would save me money).
Our Environmental Literature class
talked about how bad plastic is for the environment, and yet I still find myself
using plastic on a regular basis. I use approximately 4 plastic water bottles
every week. People (including myself) make a majority of their decisions based
off of what is the most convenient. And then people (including myself) are
disgusted with the things like the ocean being filled with plastic! A
staggering 8 million tons of plastic find a home in the world’s ocean each
year! If I bought myself a water-filter and used one of the many water bottles I
already own, not only would I save money but that would be 208 less plastic
water bottles being thrown away, only to end up in our landfills, soil, and
oceans. Just think about what would happen if 1000 people decided to make this
change! That would be around 200,000 water bottles not being thrown away!
Not only would these things be
saving the environment, but they would also help keep more money in my pocket.
Some other things people can do to save themselves money while helping save the
world we live in include:
-Car Pool or use public transportation
- Turn off your lights
-switch to fluorescent light bulbs
-Turn off your computers at night
-unplug electronics while you are not using them
-use a reusable water bottle
I
think everyone (including myself) can make these small changes to help save the
environment. Will you be joining me?
