All of you have calculated your emissions and you have surely discovered the unexpectedly high impact of some of your behaviors (eating meat, flying to a sunny destination, etc.) on your total footprints.
Are there any behaviors that you are really willing to change or to improve for the sake of the environment? What challenges do you encounter or think you will encounter while trying to change these things? What help, support, and insights from others would make your life easier with these new behaviors?
Let's discuss these issues and make our pledges here!
Now It's Time for Action >
Reducing Shower Time
I chose to reduce my carbon footprint by taking shorter showers. I also decided that when taking shorter showers, I’d try to use room temperature water rather than hot water. Between my family, we waste a lot of water just by washing dishes, using the washing machine, flushing toilets, and using sprinklers. By taking shorter showers, I would reduce the amount of water wasted in my home, reduced the amount of time I waste, and lower the cost of water bill. By reducing my shower time, I’d not only reduce the amount of water I wasted, but the amount of time I wasted and reduce the amount of money on the bill. According to http://livinggreenandsavingenergy.com/green-tips, cutting shower time can save a surprising amount of water. Using an average number of 2.5 gallons per minute from the typical shower head, reducing your shower length by 4 minutes per day would save (if you shower everyday) 3650 gallons per year. In addition to saving water, you also save the energy required to heat that water. By reducing your shower time, you get 4 more minutes per day (a little over 24 hours per year) to do something else.
I think that washing your dishes more efficiently and taking shorter showers is a great way to save water especially when you are using 2.5 gallons per minute!
My carbon footprint is lower than the spanish and world's average , because I haven't travelled a lot and I don't buy a lot of food, because my family grows a lot vegetales.
However, I've though a lot how to reduce my carbon footprint. I think that taking shorter showers is a good idea, because we can save a lot of water. What's else, if we save water, we will protect a lot of animals in the sea.
Be consederate. Watch what you do. Save water and time. Save the animals.
I'm Maria Deltoro from Spain, thank you to save your ideas.
Shorter showers and turning off the water while we brush teeth are very good ideas that I have tried to implement. I also learned from the water company that we had some type of leak. The representative advised me how to determine if a leak was present, (my bill had doubled, so I was wondering why) and it turns out we did have a leak that wasted a lot of water. The next day we had a plumber come to fix the leak. Another time, I was at our local grocery store and noticed that their water was running and spoke to the customer representative about the running water so that they, in turn, could have it fixed. This store was open 24 hours seven days a week so that would be a huge amount of wasted water.