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I don't want to be a hypocrite anymore

I've been sitting at my desk staring at this blank screen for the last 15 minutes because I don't know what to write about. A quick google search of day-to-day environmental issues and it begins to hit me that I can't talk about any of this. Food wastage? Guilty. Long showers? Guilty. Overuse of electricity? Guilty. Driving instead of walking, using plastic bags at the grocery store, indulging in one-time use products, writing on dead forests instead of digitally? Well damn it. I simply cannot preach what I don't practice.

So instead, here's a sort of resolution that actually guilt trips me into doing something good for the environment:

According to the Evironmental Protection Agency we use OVER 1 TRILLION GALLONS OF WATER EACH YEAR JUST FOR SHOWERING. The EPA also tells us that the average showerhead wastes over 2 gallons per minute alone. So...you'd think the solution is pretty obvious. In India, I shower with a bucket and a pail, using only about a few gallons each day no matter how long it lasts. But honestly, I'm not willing to sacrifice a nice warm waterfall because that's really the only think that gets me to wake up in the morning. When I used to do gymnastics, I'd try taking cold showers that would never last nearly as long as a regular one. But that phase lasted less than a week. 


What often flaws our resolutions is how unrealistic they are. Saying that you're going to cut out plastic entirely from your life is just lying to yourself. My goal is to cut down my showers to about 4 minutes—half the national average. I saw this tip on the internet to limit your shower to the duration of one song, and that actually sounds like a great strategy. Ridding yourself of a pleasure is one of the hardest things to do, no matter how obviously bad it is (hey that sounds like akrasia). With the help of music, I think this will motivate me to stick to this and form a healthy habit. If you're reading this, you should try too. It's a sacrifice of convenience, but who knows? 

It might just help you get to class on time and avoid being publically shamed :)

Comments

  1. Varsha SeshadriApril 14, 2024 at 11:33 AM

    I used to use the music thing and it's honestly helped me so much and I'm glad you're finding it helpful too! This was a great post from the connections to akrasia, your humorous style, the meme of Kermit! Great job :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. SLZApril 14, 2024 at 8:55 PM

    You are a hypocrite Shorty. But I really like the points you made. They're so true. We always see things in the media that we should strive for but just look at them as a idealistic version of the life we could be living. Something is always better than nothing. I used to take really cold showers for a solid 6 months and then I stopped ironically in summer as well. I should really change my lifestyle to be more ecofriendly... I'll consider it :)
    At least you can say that your more eco friendly than a tall person...

    ReplyDelete

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