making the earth greener one tiny baby at a time

Monday, August 2, 2010

Water, Water Everywhere...

Remember when I said I would keep these posts short?  Why am I such a liar?!  This one will be to the point, I promise.

My Achilles heel of conservation is water use.  I love water.  More specifically, I love long hot showers.  I think submerging yourself in water is the cheapest form of therapy around.  There is nothing better than closing the doors and standing in the middle of the rushing of warm water after a you've had a long hard day, an illness, or just been dumped.

(Pictured: Me, my Dad and Phoebe at Malibu beach)

The first week of being a mother I took an indulgent two showers a day.  It seemed to be the only time I could get any peace and quiet; to be totally alone.  Also, after 30 hours of labor and non-stop nursing it felt like liquid Vicodin.  I think there is something hereditary about my love of water.  We grew up spending all summer at the Jersey shore (No jokes, please. And yes, my bangs were gigantic).  My dad, mom, brother and I would swim from the moment we woke up until the whole beach cleared out.  When my grandfather came home from the WWII, after surviving months at a concentration camp and POW camp, the first thing he wanted to do was go swimming in the Atlantic, to heal him.  Water is truly precious to me.  I should do more to protect it!

Here is a list of small things you can do to conserve water, or learn more about its quality:
1. It's always best to use a little baby bathtub or your kitchen sink to wash the wee ones.  Filling a shallow bath will waste more water.
2. If you can't afford a gray water system for your entire house, or you live in an apartment like I do, you can create your own gray water system.  If you shower, place an empty watering can in your shower to collect excess water to water your plants or yard with.  If you bathe, you can scoop up your used water (don't be grossed out, plants like soap!  Especially if you are using plant-based shampoos and soaps.), and if you are using a baby bathtub, drain it directly into the watering can.
3. Showers always take less water than baths.
4. Turn off the water when you are shaving.
5. Do not, DO NOT water your sidewalks.  I'm sure none of you do this, but I am always completely baffled when I see this happening.
6. Don't water your yard at peak sun hours.
7. Use a water filtration system instead of bottled water.
8. You can now recycle Brita filters!  You can deposit them at participating Whole Foods http://www.brita.com/support/filter-recycling/ .  None in LA participate in the program yet, but you can send them in.  Just follow the instructions on this website: http://www.preserveproducts.com/recycling/mail.html
9. If you are worried about the quality of your drinking water you can take a closer look at your community's water at the following two websites:
epa.gov/safewater/ccr/  and  ewg.org/tap-water
10. A good dishwasher saves more water than hand-washing.
11. Make sure all of your cleaners are gentle on the environment.  The best way to protect our water is to monitor what we put into it.  Never dump any pills down the drain as they will get into the water system.

Happy Watering!!

totally depressing environmental fact:
as if the oil leak wasn't depressing enough, there is a "garbage patch" floating in the atlantic ocean twice the size of texas, primarily composed of plastics, and a "dead zone" in the gulf of mexico the size of massachusetts where no life exists, due to the run off of farm fertilizers.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing the tips! This is the one area where I think I do best, but I didn't know that about bath water being okay for plants. I will use my baby's bath water for the plant we received at his birth, which is still thriving!

    Great blog entry, Rebecca--and your totally depressing environmental fact really is TOTALLY depressing.

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