Conserve Water in Everyday Situations

 This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Conservation of resources is one of the tenets of going green.  Society has made possible many luxuries that are quite affordable, but can have far-reaching costs for the environment and our future.  Running water is taken for granted by many, as it is nearly universal and affordable.  However, wasting this water is not green and should be avoided, no matter what.  Some of the earlier tips including running full loads will save both electricity and water.

 One simple way that I try to employ and think will be incredibly easy to implement in your lives is taking shorter and less frequent showers.  I am not advocating any stop bathing completely and become a dirty hippy, but certainly there are ways to shorten your showers so you can save valuable water.  Showers use gallons and gallons of water, and at minimum 25% of the water used is probably wasted.  There are water conserving shower-heads available as well, for those who want to take the next step.

Another pet peeve of mine is when people leave the water running while brushing their teeth.  This is completely unnecessary and pure laziness.  Simply turn of the water while you are brushing, and turn it on and off to rinse off.  This also applies to washing dishes by hand, turn off the stream while you are scrubbing!

I truly believe that water will and should become much more expensive in the next years.  Whether this is from a "green tax" imposed by governments, which would go to providing for other green pursuits, or if it is due to dwindling resources.  Like the bottle deposit, there should be a high cost for wasting water, which will cause people to reconsider their water usage.  Punishment, especially financial, works a lot better than rewards.  The people who decide to continue wasting should suffer a much larger penalty and some of those dollars diverted to other ways of going green.

Go Green Idea: Reduce Trash, Increase Recycling

A friend of mine @GoGreenMorimoto and I were discussing the problem of recycling in America on twitter the other day. We debated a couple methods that the government could use to increase recycling. Obviously there are two ways to encourage a behavior, either rewards for good behavior or punishment for bad behavior and we discuss both methods to solve this particular problem.

Currently, there is a small reward/punishment in place, on a state by state basis, most commonly in the form of a bottle deposit. This means the state tacks on 5 cents to the cost of a plastic bottle, but allows you to return it and recoup your nickel. The idea is that people will want to get their own money back, lest they pay an additional 5 cents/bottle. This also encourages others to grab discarded bottles and recycle them to claim the 5 cents.

I think this method is a great step, and definitely a good model, however I believe it is not enough. 5 cents is just not enough money to convince people to go out and recycle. Instead, states should raise the bottle deposit limits to 25 cents, which would make the bottles much more valuable. Nobody can claim that it is too expensive, because they will get the money back as soon as they finish the bottle! This encourages people to recycle, and for those who just throw the bottle away, a quarter is enough motivation for someone poor to go through the trouble of obtaining these discarded bottles.

However, I do not think we should stop at plastic bottles. I think that cardboard/glass/metal food packaging is important and should be recycled as well. To do this, the FDA would have to standardize packaging sizes or offer a number of templates (which is hardly a hassle) and then states would force food producers to package in these containers to be able to sold. The deposit would be something less, say 10 cents/box. This is better than the 5 cents, and since many people buy lots of packaging, they should have to pay the deposit temporarily. If they decide that they do not want to recycle, they should have to pay a dear price. If it is only a few cents (like under the current system) then many people will simply just consider the deposit as part of the cost of the item! Biodegradable boxes of course would not be charged the deposit, because they will decompose, this is only for those items that need to be recycled through the traditional channels.

A final, more extreme step, would be to have a trash/recycling compliance inspector. This person's job would be to monitor trash and make sure citizens are complying with the recycling policies set in the place. Their wages would be paid through unreturned deposits on packaging and the fines they would surely impose on those not in compliance. Even if the state ends up having to supplement their salaries, it would be for a great cause. Go green folks!