Being Conscious
I ran across this post on saving water at lifehacker. The article itself only provides a link to a chart depicting how much water is required for typical things you do and eat during your day, I find the water usage comparison chart less interesting than the actual comments to the post. Most people talk about how ridiculous the examples are or mock the comparisons (??“no bath? what about hygiene? low-flow toilets? Did they count how many times you actually have to flush one before it actually does a proper job?”?? to paraphrase a few). I think they are missing the point.
In fact, I’ve been seeing this more often (and admittedly, I am as guilty as the next guy). We crawl the internet looking for answers – ??“What can I do to save money? What should I invest in? What should I do to lose weight? How can I save the planet?”?? – we are often looking for the easy answers. One thing I learned from reading Your Money or Your Life (read my review) is that you will benefit more from being conscious of your behavior. Want to save money? Track your spending habits and be aware of what you are spending and why. Want to lose weight? Be more present when you eat – take mental note of why you are eating, when you feel satisfied (as opposed to full), and how you feel when you are done. Information is important; awareness is the key to making changes.
And so we return to the chart. Is the point to tell you to replace your old toilet with a low-flow one? To stop taking baths? Give up eating beef? Or could it be that it is merely trying to raise your awareness of how much water a few examples use, and that the choices you make can affect how much water you use (or is used on your behalf) in a typical day. Armed with that knowledge and hopefully more after you do some research, you can answer the question yourself; no need for spoon-feeding. And once you have the information, you can make conscious changes to your behavior.
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