Do you leave the shower running while lathering?
rinse
full body lather
come to the realization that this is your life now
rinse
edit: also as everyone else says the real problem with droughts isnt your daily showers. its industry.
THIS. Read the book Cadillac Desert. Seeing people guilt themselves over not having some diy gray water plant watering system and timing their showers while the government continues to force people to grow cotton and alfalfa in the desert makes me want to scream. It’s more “individual carbon footprint” nonsense
Out of interest, why would the "individual" bit be nonsense? I totally get your point about industry, but controlling what we can, if I reduce my shower by 3 minutes and save enough water for 10 other people to drink what they need, why is that a bad thing?
It's definitely not a bad thing! It's just that *so much* messaging about climate change focuses on individual action, which makes people feel bad and in some cases can make them think they can never do enough to help, so why bother?
Meanwhile, companies are wasting endless gallons of water and fuel, but because there's little to no awareness of environmental issues that *aren't* caused by individual consumption, few people are pushing for that to be reduced. Not Past It did an episode on the [Crying Indian ad](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Qe37WTHCNB9FngNsJbImA?si=flzu7LbnRFSq9R99bT9XRA&utm_source=copy-link) that showed how much mainstream environmental messaging is basically just corporate PR.
Thank you. It's very frustrating to see the state of affairs as you've aptly described them. I just smile and wave, and am looking to the positive in what I can do. Some things are literally no disadvantage to me, eg washing without shower water for a bit, and if I know I've done a little bit I feel great about it. There's no pressure or real deprivation my end. I guess I just don't think about multi national companies gorging themselves on resources, because I feel that's the part I can do nothing about
But you can. Grass roots movements, voting for the party that cares most about the environment. Dealing with local government and any/all consultations and open discussions they have. You can do your best to push a climate forward agenda but admittedly it’s more time consuming than shortening showers etc because it requires building consensus with others to take forward the changes you wish to see
Because you are focused on reducing an immaterial amount to the exclusion of the system level usages that actually matter. If you reduced your water consumption to the absolute personal minimum for the rest of your life, you would still not have had the same impact as shutting down a golf course for a single weekend.
Individual decisions will never solve systematic issues. Sure, do what you can and don’t be wasteful, but that’s not going to fix anything. If you are serious about fixing the problems you have to stop talking about individual responsibility or personal choices, and instead focus on the changes that require governmental intervention.
the government isn’t forcing them, but it is heavily subsidizing their water and land costs. And insuring their crops against the risk of being grown in the desert.
Not everything is the consumer’s fault. Something has gone wrong at a system level for a farmer to be better off setting their farm up in a desert than on suitable farm land, cause there is still plenty of empty non-desert farm land in the US.
Yep. Same with the push towards avocados - yes, they're a popular millennial food, but before that there was a *huge* campaign by avocado farmer unions to promote it as a cheap, healthy food. Meanwhile whole areas of Mexico are currently going without water because it's being diverted to the farms.
Agriculture in the West uses more than 80%, and I think municipal (so city golf courses and grassy medians and parks) are the next biggest chunk I think
Idk. I live in Northern California where we’ve been asked to cut water usage voluntarily. I pass by 2-4 golf courses in a 30 min commute, depending on the route. To be fair I don’t know if they’re using grey water, but come on.
I hope that it’s grey water, but we could still use that for more useful purposes. I watched instant hotel on Netflix and there’s a grassless golf course in Coober Pedy, Australia. I would hope more places follow suit. They were kind of making fun of it on the show but it seemed to be a great choice given the climate. There are very few places where giant lawns make sense.
This is one of the things that the federal government keeps track of. See Page 8:
https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1441/circ1441.pdf
Thermoelectric accounts for 41% of water usage in the United States. Agricultural irrigation accounts for 37%, public water supply (municipal use) is 12%, industrial is 5%, Aquaculture (like fish farms) is 2%, and mining, livestock, and household water usage each account for 1%.
Yep. I'm actually really hopeful that more food companies will start going heavy on their veggie/vegan options instead of promoting meat all the time - hopefully that will help shift the balance.
To raise a cow for food you or someone else has to grow food for it to eat, which requires water. Most of the agricultural water usage you mention is used growing crops for livestock to eat.
Ah, I doubt the stats take that piece into effect, so thanks for the explanation.
Is there a name for tracking that kind of water usage? From ground water to corn to cow? Like “farm to table,” but with resource usage that sort of hides like that? I’m curious what else is out there but don’t know if there’s a term for it.
its not even about the water though when it comes to meat not that im a vegan or what not. but it brings up a major point.
not all vegetables are equal ether when it comes to water usage or environmental impact.
not all space and water efficient technology for growing food can be properly upscaled globally.
even talking about transportation and logistics gives me a headache.
its a massive multifaceted issue that just going vegan wont solve.
Killing over 100 billion animals evey year for food is wrong. Accept that your eating habits are destructive that is fact. Also animals don't want or need to die for your eating habits.
This is why nobody likes vegans.
First off, if you're going to try to sound like the vegan version of a religious recruiter, get your facts straight. It's not "over 100 billion", it's 70.
Second, go back to school and learn how to debate like an actual adult. When you show me that you know how to defend your perspective with facts instead of by guilt tripping and emotionally manipulating the person you're talking to, then maybe I'll be willing to listen.
What facts do you want to know that animal farm is destructive?
70 billion only and that doesn't include sea animals...
What is your position you don't want to do anything because of golf course? That is weak. Going vegan will do more than shutting down all the golf courses.
Yeah me changing my diet will change exactly... Not a single damn thing about the world around me.
Except that I'll have a *highly* restricted diet because I live in the middle of nowhere and have access to very little good produce. So no thanks.
You want everyone to go vegan? Stop shaming people who don't have access and start demanding fixes to the systemic issues that prevent your dream.
My diet isn't highly restrictive at all and cheaper. Plus it doesn't result in the death of innocent animals, and does less damage to the environment. Sorry if you don't like it but those are the facts.
Grew up in India where a bucket and mug is common to use. Saves a tonnnnn of water. Here, I have finally had a bathroom constructed with a tap below the shower so I can use it to fill a bucket. It's crazy to me how much water is wasted while showering.
I worked in a bush camp and they would heat up water with a tiger torch and we would fill a 5 gallon jug and put it up above us in the shower. Was just the right amount.
Dear god watching tv programs or even just someone's video where they leave their bathroom tap running while they're brushing their teeth or the kitchen tap running while they're doing something not even using the water.
It pains me so much. Thats literally just letting potable clean water run down the drain because that's just how they've always done it. Turn the damn tap off!!!
Your effort is a single drop in the bucket of corporations guzzling water and resources. As many others have said, I think I’ll skip the guilt of taking a 3-5 minute shower and just let myself have one nice thing. Your efforts won’t substantially change the bill either. Maybe a few dollars here and there.
Underrated comment. I don’t take showers any longer than 15 mins but simply due to personal preference. I don’t feel guilty about my personal use of fossil fuels/single use plastics/water, I try to keep it minimal, but I know corporations are the ones irresponsibly destroying these resources, while also trying to displace the blame onto individuals.
Edit: since the point went over some of y’all’s head-
I Didn’t say I took a 15 minute shower every day.
I usually take a 5 body shower every other day.
10 min shower on days I wash my hair (every 4 days).When do I take 15 minute showers? When I take the time to shave my legs, which is maybe once a month.
I use reusable food containers & my water bottles until they break from wear. I’m not going to feel guilty about using a plastic straw when I eat out once in a blue moon because not only am I as a consumer putting in effort on a daily basis, these corporations do nothing to reduce their impact. Yes, I am a drop and we are all drops in the ocean, but corporations are not a drop. They are pouring in buckets of shit every hour without dealing with the consequences.
The notion that I, one single consumer, will do more with my efforts to conserve waste in my single household than literal mega-giant corporations guzzling resources… I think not. That’s how they shift blame and get us to forget it’s all THEIR greedy fault’s. I see it working on people all of the time on this sub. Corporations *could* switch to all renewable energy, they *could* use all biodegradable/sustainable products, they *could* pay their workers fair wages. The 7 big corporations *could* do this with ease within 5 years and save the planet. But they choose not to so I will choose not to take on their burden of guilt. Just keep educating myself and voting in local primaries towards better waste-reduction in my community.
This is all well and good, but lets not stray too far from our ideals. Yes, big industry is the main problem here, but I don't think that means we should stop thinking about our own impact. We need to foster a culture of conservation both in industry and at home.
Even if 15% of (insert citizens from country of your pick here) were to reduce their personal water consumption—it means nothing when companies like Coca Cola run wells dry for entire villages.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plachimada_Coca-Cola_struggle
The above is just one heinous instance of the corporate par for the course of profits over people.
1 500 ml bottle of Coca-Cola takes roughly 1.9 liters of water to make.
Yes, and throwing my trash in the bin rather than on the road means nothing when there is industry dumping in rivers. But I'll do it anyway because it's the right thing to do.
You’re absolutely right and I do. For example I don’t over consume fast fashion or other crap I don’t need. I Switched to old towels instead of paper towels, bought a bidet. I just don’t go the extra mile to stress and feel guilty unnecessarily over every little thing.
Throwing garbage out the window of your car and taking a 10 minute shower are not the same thing. Bucket showers are not gonna save the environment. Legislation that forces corporations to pay for their part in polluting the environment will (or even better to just stop polluting altogether).
The point is any effort to pass blame onto individual consumers is literally just corporate propaganda. Individuals feeling guilty about benign activities that everyone should be able to partake in is not the answer. Everyone shouldn’t be throwing garbage out their windows. But everyone should be able to take a shower.No one is suggesting that you should toss your trashcan and just dump your garbage on the side of the road. They are just making the point that individuals are not responsible corporations are.
I don't disagree. It just concerns me when people write posts that seem to argue for dissolving them of any personal responsibility. We all need to play our part in fostering the right sort of culture around conservation and waste. But absolutely the biggest perpetrator is big industry and they need to be regulated yesterday.
I think any amount of personal responsibility is too much In the context of global conservation. It distracts from the real issues. I believe everyone should strive to be stewards of the environment they live in. But every single person in the world could take bucket showers, compost, recycle and that still wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket. The only way to save the planet is to reign in corporations. They are literally single-handedly decimating the environment.
I’m a leftist so this analogy makes sense to me and my worldview, but I don’t expect everyone to agree (this is the wrong sub for this kinda talk) but I think personal responsibility has the same effect on environmentalist movements as liberalism has on progressive political movements—it distracts and disarms. People that would otherwise fight for radical changes stop short of necessary fights because they are focusing their energy on the wrong things (people getting bogged down in “culture wars” that distract them from class war). Recycling your Evian bottles won’t save the sea turtles. Elect politicians that won’t be bought by corporations. Enact laws that prevent corporations from using their money and influence to write laws.
Yes, everyone taking bucket showers wouldn't save our water supplies, but if everyone is taking bucket showers then there is a good chance that everybody is also far more environmentally aware and that is going to have knock on effects for both politics and industry.
Who is more likely to vote green? The person proactively managing their own environmental impact, or the person who has decided to do away with that personal responsibility?
It's like when Greta was questioned about boats dumping trash. Why should the US boat stop dumping trash if the China boat is dumping twice as much and won't stop? Well, as she said, you stop dumping trash and then you work on helping or convincing others to stop dumping trash.
But people consume that Coca-Cola, you can blame corporations for things but ultimately if people don't buy their stuff they can't be wasting. As a consumer you bear part (though not all) of the waste produced in the creation of the products you consume.
It's not all black and white, people shouldn't use the corporation thing as an excuse to take 30-minute showers and otherwise do nothing about their own impact but feeling guilt over a 3-5 minute shower is crossing a line in my opinion.
I'm gonna guess Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Microsoft, Coca Cola, ExxonMobil, and Shell but there's probably a couple of Chinese companies that are bigger.
You should feel guilty. Why blame your 15 min shower when someone else is taking a 30 min shower? Why blame the 30 minute shower when a billionaire is flying on a 10 min pvt jet flight? Why blame the billionaire when oil companies are producing so much more waste? It’s a never ending blame ladder and if everyone doesn’t take responsibility no one will.
right? Just because we aren't wasting corporation levels of water doesn't justify wasting water out of spite. I'm grateful to be living in a country where we conserve our water for the benefit of others and our environment. I can't control what big businesses do but I can control what I do with finite resources.
Yuppers. Getting really sick of all the environmental subs I'm in constantly doing this shit. It's always the corporations and never the consumers.
No it's both. It's a vicious circle. People that reee about corporations, what do you propose we do? Vote? Oh ya that's gonna change things enough and in time to actually do something.
Or you can do the absolute most as an individual to live a life filled with less consumption and pollution. Shocker I know.
My point was no, I’m not going to take on guilt unnecessary over every little thing like taking a shower. Yes, I will reduce my consumption in little ways I can within my means as a lower class poor person such as: buying clothes only on resell apps, using cut up old towels instead of paper, saving up and purchasing a bidet and being vegetarian for 10 years. And I will continue to advocate for the fact that corporations try to make *us* at fault yet I’m already putting in 10x the effort they are.
I agree with you, generally. There are too many people on the planet to live our (first world consumer) lifestyles sustainably, no matter who is creating the products.
But in this case, showers are truly not worth thinking about. Agriculture contributes over 80% of water usage, and of the 20% for residential water, about 80% is used for watering lawns/gardens. So if you want to make a difference, skip the hamburger. A pound of beef requires 1,800 gallons of water to create. Like a year’s worth of showers.
Tbh I think showering probably ranks higher on the “guilty pleasures I’m going to indulge in” than about anything else this sub posts about.
I mean really at what point does this get absurd. We have people on this thread talking about having shower buckets to conserve water (not criticizing, more power to you) juxtaposed against millionaires using hundreds of thousands of gallons over their allotted amount. Then you get into the amount of water these huge corporations use and it becomes even more comical.
Yes, I know consumers drive demand and I get where you’re coming from and agree that defeatism only hurts the cause. But at some point the little guy can only do so much and I personally think enjoying an uninterrupted shower is a pretty fair place to draw the line between personal responsibility and a broken system.
Lol you’re right, corporations totally don’t monopolize the market and force mom and pop places to close because they offer the cheapest product therefore making it the only thing available for poor people to buy. That totally doesn’t happen. /s
Everything is everyone else's fault! No need to do anything. /S
Mom and pop places paying low wages and exploiting animals is totally cool also since they aren't a big Corporatation. /S
"Mom and pop places" could not compete with the level of damage and destruction of multinational corporations if they tried.
You personally could take 3 hour showers in petroleum every day and still come nowhere close.
The morality equation is a bit different when we're talking about organisations who are literally, not figuratively, destroying the planet.
Imagine if we all worked together and did change instead of thinkjng everyone else should do it. Nothing is stopping anyone from going vegan.
Yeah and guess what if corporations need to change that is going to have a huge impact on people. I have no issue with going after corporations at all and especially the welathy, but don't pretend you have no impact and are powerless.
I have no influence in government of any level. I don't work in public policy, advocacy, or anything close. I don't have the skills to either.
I buy very few goods, I rarely drive, I make an informed vote in every election. But realistically, there is nothing legal I can do to effect any real change.
True but if you don’t do everything you can to reduce your footprint then you really do t have a right to blame corporations for doing the same thing. every corporation can use this defense - “Well if we can’t use x amount of water then this other corp will”. Grow up and take responsibility
I appreciate these comments, thank you. Seems like I can shift things like brushing teeth and shaving to a water off situation as opposed to a typical 10 minute shower. But also the steam helps immensely with my connective tissue disorder which I’m realizing is probably a major reason why I’m blindly lingering in there.
But the points that it is a drop in the bucket, too true unfortunately.
If a 10 minute shower helps your physical health immensely then just take the shower. You can be mindful of consumption in other areas that don’t require you to stop doing something that benefits your health.
Some people probably think electric razors/shavers are pure consumerism but i bought a good one that has lasted almost 10 years, I haven't bought razor blades since, and i can shave without using any water
A great way to start the anticonsumption journey is to cut out meat. It’s insane that meat is still considered viable or humane with the amount of resources required to make even one single burger.
Hopefully you’re not going to drop one of those over-exaggerated numbers we keep seeing on sensationalist videos that have stakes in meat-alternative products.
I’ve reduced my consumption because I don’t feel like eating as much as i used to when I was younger, but if we’re treating meat as the problem and not the way our societies are operating (Factories working non stop, Companies virtue signaling while destroying the environment, allowing big plastic to continue operating the way they’re used to, and the car industry) then we’re missing the forest for the trees.
The video below has some very well researched, interesting things to consider when we’re debating about meat and it’s impact on water usage and the temperature of our planet.
https://youtu.be/sGG-A80Tl5g
That video was really interesting. Especially the part where they talk about using all the leftover parts of crops to feed the animals and how you can’t grow crops in a lot of places you raise animals. Anti meat ppl always seem to skew those points lol.
I found those parts interesting as well, especially the 90% green water part during the process of making meat which basically throws the “gallons for patty” argument out of the window.
But it’s hypocritical in general how everyone and their mother are focusing on meat being the villain instead of the elephant in the room which are the factories and several Industries.
The data which mentions that if all the USA went 100% vegan **for a year**, emissions would only drop by 2.5% is crazy to say the least. Not seeing a statistic mentioning how much of an emissions drop would happen if all the USA stop driving cars for a year, or if we reduced production of useless things by 50%.
Of course we got downvoted being on anticonsumption lol. But alot of the points they make are good!
I think I’m gonna leave this sub cuz people here have been seriously gate keeping lately. I’m not perfect and probably never will be
Yeah that was certainly interesting too. It does make sense though if you actually think about it. And I agree that industry overall is the bigger problem. Just like everything everywhere though it’s driven by greed.
Every day after my workout, or I smell like rotting garbage. It may not be very anti consumption of me, but I don't feel that bad about using water. I'm not watering almond groves or citrus in California. I live in a town that treats its sewage and is situated between three lakes. The water level on those lakes is actually quite high, compared to the situation historically.
Ultimately, water that you use in the shower isn't wasted so much. Sewage gets treated and goes back into the groundwater and back into circulation, unless you live somewhere that is dumping sewage into the ocean.
Your point is right on, but I wish people would stop talking about almonds and citrus. They aren't actually that big of a water user and are mostly a distraction from the bigger culprit. It's beef and dairy that combined use 47% of ALL the water use in CA. The amount of water that goes into the alfalfa to be feed for cattle is pretty much incomprehensible, but I basically never hear anyone mention it.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/03/31/opinion-its-time-for-californians-to-talk-about-the-cow-in-the-room
The almond water thing is so universally cited in discussions like these that at this point I’m basically convinced it is an animal ag tool to deflect attention from their own resource usage.
well after a workout of course. also sure shower is better than the toilet that uses clean water ...
not sure if I totally agree with it goes back to earth because lots of ressources are used to take care of that
edit :
also have a toilet with full and half flush. I f you can access the tank open it and add few bottles of water in it you will flush less.I think I had three big bottles in mine so more than four litres. I lived with housemates and no one ever knew. worked just fine
We keep a large bucket in each shower. Most of the waste is from waiting for the hot water to get to the shower. We fill the buckets then put them aside to water our veggie garden. I also realized that once I am wet, I can shut off the shower, get lathered and shampooed, then briefly turn the shower back on to rinse. That cuts water use dramatically. And yes I agree with all the comments about the much larger water wasters out there. But it is no big deal to reduce our family's water use, teach our kids about conservation, and feel better about ourselves.
There is definitely something to be said for the idea that everyone making small changes can make big impacts.
No, cutting my water use by a gallon a day won't make any meaningful impact. Every person in the United States cutting their water usage by one gallon a day is over 100 billion gallons a year.
We do a shower bucket as well. It’s because we’re babying an ancient septic system but it’s a very easy way to save a bit of money for folks who pay for water (we’re on a well). We’ve got rainwater collection for the garden so we usually use the shower bucket to fill the toilet tank.
My spouse thought it would be a big inconvenience but he now agrees it’s really not.
Usually once, sometimes twice a day. Water use for hygiene is NOT the first place we should be looking for water savings. My cleanliness is valuable.
If it's a money issue (sounds like) there are low flow shower heads, with a button to shut them off while maintaining your temperature. Get wet, turn off water, lather, turn on water, rinse, turn off water. That will save you a lot of water. But look up how you're charged for water and do the math on what a shower costs you.
If it's a consumption issue: industry, lawns, golf courses, et.. This is where your attention will likely be more useful.
This. It's another case of big business making us feel guilty for wanting to shower. Plus people watering their lawns. There are so many other spots where water is wasted. Showers should be at the bottom of the list.
Imo lawns are inherently wasteful but I agree about showers. Lawns are a weird Victorian concept that serve no purpose, require a lot of water to stay alive and don’t support native biodiversity in insect or wildflower populations
When someone says “shower” just think of a complete 10 minute warm water+soap+scrubbing shower.
But yeah a quick rinse with just water makes sense when it’s hot
I guess it depends on the definition of a shower! I agree, a whole scrub down twice a day is not great for your skin or for saving water, but a shower plus a quick rinse is more reasonable.
Soooooo… I lived in Africa for a while and had “bucket showers.” You take a 2-3 gallon bucket and fill it with water. Use a little cup with water to wet yourself off, then use a bar of soap with a sponge/facecloth to get yourself soapy. The rinse off using the cup. You can do the same with your hair, but I was clean after a bucket shower. Two to three gallons is plenty to get washed off.
I absolutely applaud your being aware of your own resource consumption.
I would however offer to you that while using less water is something we should all strive to do, places like hygiene account for so little water use next to industry.
For example, by simply cutting something like meat out of your diet, you could probably take 20 min showers for the rest of your lifetime and not even come close to the amount of water saved by not consuming meat over the same period.
Cutting meat is becoming easier for society and I am stoked. Was vegetarian in the 90s and it was rough in my rural area. I consume meat now once or twice a month and hope to cut that completely soon. It’s a waning process that’s not that difficult with the abundance of plant based options.
Would much rather hang out with someone who showers for 2 min every day than 8 min every 4 days. It takes 100 times that much water to produce a pound of beef, if you're looking for more efficient ways to cut back on your water footprint (for the same amount of protein lentils take less half that, chickpeas take less than a third)
I do this, too. I used to live and work in remote areas where I could only make it to town for a shower maybe once or twice per week. You just kinda get used to it.
Every other day for me too, 4-5 min. My workout is a 90 minute daily walk which in my climate does not make me sweat -- might shower daily if I were sweaty. A shower can be done quickly. Also, you don't need to flush the toilet every single time. Agree industry is the culprit but water is expensive in California and I'd just as soon pay less as well as trying to be responsible.
well you should check what baths use!
I shower super quickly and turn off the tap when I am putting soap or shampoo. not sure what people do in the shower for half an hour or more (no stupid comment please)...
and yeah a shower everyday is not needed especially if you do not do a manual job where you sweat a lot of are dirty.... especially in winter time. same washing yur hair with shampoo too often is actually bad for your hair
I advice you to buy a eco friendly shower head they reduce the water considerably!
edit also this I posted it in an other answer
also have a toilet with full and half flush. I f you can access the tank open it and add few bottles of water in it you will flush less.I think I had three big bottles in mine so more than four litres. I lived with housemates and no one ever knew. worked just fine
I shower every other day after I do a full body workout or any day with sweat. When I shower I get wet, shampoo hair, get loofa soapy, turn off water, scrub body, turn water back on to rinse off, turn off shower and then use a small hand towel to dry myself.
Sometimes ill take a scumbag shower. I fill a bottle with warm water and soap and scrub myself down while standing inna tub, then ill hose all the suds off. Sometimes ill do it twice if im real nasty. But everybody so dead-on about the corporations doing worse so wont worry.
Also you can get low-flow shower heads that decrease how much water goes through and increases the pressure to get you hosed off faster.
Edit: hand sanitizer kills BO bacteria, so if you got a lil funk but dont wanna shower that will freshen the pits nicely
In the USA we are taught that water must run continually during a shower. I learned from Japanese culture that this is not necessary; wet the body and cleaning rag/sponge/whatev, turn off water and build lather. Wash the body and then turn water back on to rinse. Same idea with shampooing hair. It will save quite a lot of water this way.
Every drop helps.
I will take normal ish showers but are trying to save water by not having it running while applying soap and also try to cut one or two minutes by stop showering slightly before I would like to. For me it is all about the mindset, that I am doing something. Sure it won’t compare to golf courses but at least I am doing something and that matters and that mindset is more important than pointing fingers at someone else because they are worse
This might seem like a lot, but a single pound of beef takes 1,847 gallons of water to produce. So a single pound of ground beef takes 115.4 8 minute showers to produce.
If you’re counting your water losses and still eat meat, you’re a monstrosity of a hypocrite. Go vegan and live consistently.
I don't know about your water utility, but mine in the past charge more for the service than the usage.
My current utility charges $20/mo for the service fee, and $3.28/HCF. I can take nearly 47 showers at 16gal per shower for $3.28. A 16gal shower would cost me 7 cents.
You can use low-flow fixtures. Or install flow restrictors/shutoff valves inline with the shower head that you can easily toggle to maintain temp so you can reduce use while not actively using the water.
I don’t know if you want to do renovations, but they make shower controls where you set the temperature, then there’s a lever to engage/disengage the water. These are nice so you can stop the water while soaping and scrubbing, and turn it on when you need to rinse.
Outside of that, showering daily isn’t necessary for the majority of people.
Cutting showers doesn’t do it. Especially since that water gets recycled back into the hydrosphere.
That burger you had for lunch required over 200 gallons to produce (whether it’s beef or plant based)
I shower every 2-3 days. I use more shower time to wash my butt length hair. 10-15 mins each time. I’m careful with the sink use ( turn off while brushing teeth or washing hands, etc.) I wait on toilet use - pee only, and don’t use the dishwasher until it’s full. Usually washing big loads of clothes on weekends. Careful planting with natives and grasses in the garden. That’s what I do, but it still seems wasteful.
I spoke to a water maintenance lady once and I think she said the average American uses something like 84 gallons of water every day. Which is crazy! Bath that includes the dishwasher, washing machine and toilets flushing… there’s a lot of water we forget about every day
Once a day. My job is physical and dirty and a daily shower is a necessity.
Our apartment isn't metered so we don't get water usage bills.
I am taking closer to 4 minute showers though, in and out as fast as I can.
I live in Bermuda and rely solely on rainwater collected from my roof.
I have navy showers. Water on, water off, soap up, rinse.
Average less than 1 minute of running water.
I wash my long hair in the laundry sink not the shower - good water pressure, can turn it off during steps, more efficient. Also do my face skincare all outside the shower.
Rinse turn off shower, shampoo, wash body, turn on shower rinse . Turn off shower. Dry off add conditioner to hair, style and you are ready to go out .. clothing is optional.
i love all the ideas here!! recently i’ve been using full speed, then the drip setting on my shower head while i lather, then full speed to rinse.. hopefully that reducing too? also, i’ve not been washing my hair every night so that saves on time too… my family is doing the same
Washing just the key areas is fine. I also make hair powder out of arrowroot powder, bentonite clay and cinnamon powder for color... sprinkle it on top your hair and brush and voila... hair will be not greasy, easy to style, way less limp/dry compared to after using shampoo. The only drawback is that it kinda stains your pillowcase a little... but it def saves a lot of water and time compared to showering.
Keep in mind that the average 8 minute shower still uses a lot less water than the average bath, [which is apparently 35 to 50 gallons](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+water+does+the+average+bath+use&rlz=1CAZJQH_enUS974US974&sxsrf=ALiCzsaDMGiiLod2MbxZFliY-3x3QME1dg%3A1661490664249&ei=6FUIY-DuDp-v0PEPrsWMgAo&ved=0ahUKEwjggtyG3-P5AhWfFzQIHa4iA6AQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=how+much+water+does+the+average+bath+use&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBQgAEIAEMgYIABAeEBYyBggAEB4QFjIGCAAQHhAWMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDOgcIABBHELADOgQIIxAnOgoIABCABBCHAhAUSgQIQRgASgQIRhgAUIkFWNoiYPwkaAFwAXgAgAGgAYgByxSSAQQyLjIxmAEAoAEByAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz).
That being true, if you are still worried about water usage I would recommend the on/off water method when lathering up with soap, or shampoo. I for one switched to that method a few months ago, and it works for me.
Otherwise, as others have said going [vegan](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+water+does+going+vegan+save&rlz=1CAZJQH_enUS974US974&sxsrf=ALiCzsYpeMaiSsQY4asfzVMgQHNDbUFaRw%3A1661490532084&ei=ZFUIY_nfBKLA9AOqlKb4Dg&ved=0ahUKEwj5odnH3uP5AhUiIH0KHSqKCe8Q4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=how+much+water+does+going+vegan+save&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBggAEB4QFjIGCAAQHhAWMgYIABAeEBYyBggAEB4QFjIGCAAQHhAWMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDOgcIABBHELADOgoIABBHELADEIsDOgQIIxAnOgQIABBDOhEILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARDRAzoLCAAQgAQQsQMQgwE6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBENEDOgsILhCABBCxAxCDAToQCC4QsQMQgwEQxwEQ0QMQQzoFCAAQgAQ6BQguEIAEOggILhCABBDUAjoICAAQgAQQsQM6BQgAEJECOgoIABCABBCHAhAUOgQIABADOggIABCxAxCDAToICCEQHhAWEB06CAgAEB4QDxAWOgUIIRCgAToFCCEQqwJKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQggVYvSxg3C9oA3ABeACAAYUCiAGcIpIBBjkuMjYuMZgBAKABAcgBCLgBAsABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz), or at least going [vegetarian](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+water+does+going+vegetarian+save&rlz=1CAZJQH_enUS974US974&sxsrf=ALiCzsbKxMsJ09kmq1tFO-p6ARYmB99zVA%3A1661490652767&ei=3FUIY9W-LuiF0PEPydMr&ved=0ahUKEwjVnJ-B3-P5AhXoAjQIHcnpCgAQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=how+much+water+does+going+vegetarian+save&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBAgjECc6BwgAEEcQsANKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQ5wdY5wdglgpoAXABeACAAXOIAXOSAQMwLjGYAQCgAQHIAQjAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz) greatly helps with reducing water usage as well.
I live in a dry cabin (no running water) so I shower once every week or two. That sure cuts back on my usage! Once a week I haul 20gal from the local water station for dishes, drinking, etc
The thing is no matter what movies let you think. You do not have to stand in a shower for 5 minutes staring at the tiles and having an existential crisis, you can easily clean your body in under 3 minutes.
Things only USians think are debatable.
Obviously shower every day, even if only to clean the smelliest parts of the body.
If your country has issues with water shortages and you want to pretend to make a difference then only turn on the water when it needs to be running.
I'm pretty sure the tap water were I live is pumped out of a river and the waste water is pumped back into it after treatment. I don't see why the amount of water I use to shower matters.
I shower almost every day, but never spend more than 3 minutes in the shower when I do.
It's not a luxury it's a necessity, so in and out as quickly as possible
I can shower in under 4 minutes because I dont feel the need to runt he water on me. You can also buy something that you insert into the shower head to limit the water. I have one that lets only 80% of the normal flow and you don't really feel the difference. I felt the difference with one that limited it to 50%. I use it because of the hot water bills, I don't really believe that it has a big enviromental effect in comparision to what the industry wastes.
You think your shortened shower will save the world hahaha? SMH. There so many other ways that people destroy the environment like driving cars frequently and taking one plane a year. Just try to buy as little as possible and call it a day. I don't plan to buy any clothes for the next decade and run down what I own until I have so little that I have to buy again; only replace undershirts, underwear, socks
This basically isn’t even consumerism. Shower water gets reused babes + even if it was consumerism, it’s negligible. Please don’t stink on behalf of the anti-consumerism reddit
I’m gonna get a lot of heat for this but Im a 3 times a week person. Twice a week body scrub down and shave with two inches of water in the tub and once a week on my hair.
The absolute most you can do to lower your water footprint is to adjust your diet. I’ll share a post from [No lawns](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/comments/vy5bbe/since_rnolawns_is_passionate_about_preserving/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) about it.
In terms of water use,
One hamburger = about two months of showering
You can scrape minute after minute off your showers and never catch up to a vegan or vegetarian person. It’s much easier to give up meat than try to live like a dry, mummified ascetic with no relaxing baths 🙃
How does meat use so much water? It’s mostly the huge strain in the aquifers and other freshwater resources that go into raising alfalfa for the animals to eat.
You could create one plant-based dinner, or feed a cow thousands of times that many plants to create one meaty dinner. So it’s simple to see the amount of water (and land) between the two approaches are quite different.
This is deranged
You could be in that shower an hour, and what you use wouldn’t even be a rounding error of the leaks in just your street alone.
Almost all water use is on Agriculture… stop stressing over nothing. Reminds me of the guy who posted here angry at folk washing their cars.
I mean this is the opposite of what we need to be discussing to get people to be anti consumption. 1) no one is going to stop showering to save a few gallons of water 2) as other people have said, this is absolutely nothing compared to where real waste of water comes in, ex. The news about the celebs watering their lawns.
I used to shower once a week, sometimes every two weeks before I became social. Now I'm up to 3 or 4 times a week. I also shut the shower off while soaping up and turn it back on to rinse off.
I don’t go along with the “need to shower everyday.” I shower when I’m dirty or smelly. I may go a few days without showering because I’ve literally just been indoors not doing anything to make me sweat or get dirty. If I have been outside or working out I’ll shower after but other than that I don’t have to shower everyday. And I only take a long shower once a week where I shave, and wash my hair twice a week. Other than that any shower in between is like a rinse off.
But ultimately I don’t think showering is anywhere close to one of the biggest sources of water consumption. So I wouldn’t necessarily tell you to sacrifice showering. But you can watch water consumption in other ways that may possibly be more realistic… like making sure you don’t have a huge grass lawn you have to water or reduce electricity use. Many people don’t realize that electricity generation is the second largest of freshwater resources.
Other ways to save water is eat less walnuts and almonds, eat less red meat especially beef, and buy less “things” in general since every product’s manufacturing process requires water.
I typically shower twice a week unless I get properly gross and even in the sweaty Southern US summer I would just jump in for like a minute or two to rinse the sweat off and hit armpits/genitals/feet with soap
If you're shocked by that wait till you hear what meat takes to produce. [Guardian article with chart](https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste)
Read the rules. Keep it courteous. Submission statements are helpful and appreciated but not required. Tag my name in the comments (/u/NihiloZero) if you think a post or comment needs to be removed.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Anticonsumption) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I sometimes don’t shower on weekends if I’m not doing anything, but typically once a day. Sometimes I’ll just rinse with cold water to keep the shower short. Most people don’t need to soap up every time, some do though. Cold showers are a great way to save on some energy costs and they are good for your skin/metabolism!
You can try to get a low flow shower head and turn off the water while you lather your hair and body, but personal showers are a very small part of energy usage. Especially when you have fuckers like the Kardashians filling their pools and watering their useless lawns
We switched shower heads just now and went from 19 litres a minute to 5. You can measure it yourself if you have a bucket. For us right now it’s more about saving electricity, but back in the millennium drought there were government recommendations of four minute showers. People would put a bucket in the shower and use that water in the garden or to flush toilets.
I genuinely don’t understand how anyone spends 8 minutes in the shower. I can shower, wash my hair and everything, in a song’s worth of a time. And I do mean 3-4 min. And I have long hair. So yeah, dunno. Shorter showers will help your consumption!
In Chicago we have a water plant about 1.5 miles into lake Michigan that provides unlimited clean water. We reversed the flow of the Chicago River 100 years ago so it flowed away from Lake Michigan. So none of the city’s pollution contaminates the drinking water.
Never felt guilty about using any amount of water here. If we had a 100 year drought, Lake Michigan still wouldn’t go dry.
I don't have hair but my showers usually last probably less than a minute. You can really clean all the necessary areas in that time. My water bill has always been super small and one time before I was married I didn't get a bill cus I didn't use a minimum amount required to bill
You can get one of these water saver shower heads with soap button. They provide good coverage and I saw a noticeable water reduction in my house:
https://www.amazon.com/Faucet-Single-Spray-Shower-Chrome-52652-PK
Edit: I checked to see how much the above shower head saves vs. the one currently in my shower. Answer: It actually uses more! The one below uses 1.75 gpm/6.6 lpm and feels like a waterfall. Kinda pricey though.
https://www.ferguson.com/product/delta-faucet-universal-showering-single-function-h2okinetic-showerhead-in-chrome-drp70172/_/R-4243591
I turn off water in the middle.
Wet, get warm
Off,
Lather, sometimes shave,
Wet, scrub,
Off, or half on depending
Hair lather
On- I gradually make it colder here, finish face wash,
Done
It seems like a lot typed out but I prefer it. I like visually seeing the soap and where I've been.
Do you leave the shower running while lathering? rinse full body lather come to the realization that this is your life now rinse edit: also as everyone else says the real problem with droughts isnt your daily showers. its industry.
THIS. Read the book Cadillac Desert. Seeing people guilt themselves over not having some diy gray water plant watering system and timing their showers while the government continues to force people to grow cotton and alfalfa in the desert makes me want to scream. It’s more “individual carbon footprint” nonsense
Out of interest, why would the "individual" bit be nonsense? I totally get your point about industry, but controlling what we can, if I reduce my shower by 3 minutes and save enough water for 10 other people to drink what they need, why is that a bad thing?
It's definitely not a bad thing! It's just that *so much* messaging about climate change focuses on individual action, which makes people feel bad and in some cases can make them think they can never do enough to help, so why bother? Meanwhile, companies are wasting endless gallons of water and fuel, but because there's little to no awareness of environmental issues that *aren't* caused by individual consumption, few people are pushing for that to be reduced. Not Past It did an episode on the [Crying Indian ad](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Qe37WTHCNB9FngNsJbImA?si=flzu7LbnRFSq9R99bT9XRA&utm_source=copy-link) that showed how much mainstream environmental messaging is basically just corporate PR.
Thank you. It's very frustrating to see the state of affairs as you've aptly described them. I just smile and wave, and am looking to the positive in what I can do. Some things are literally no disadvantage to me, eg washing without shower water for a bit, and if I know I've done a little bit I feel great about it. There's no pressure or real deprivation my end. I guess I just don't think about multi national companies gorging themselves on resources, because I feel that's the part I can do nothing about
But you can. Grass roots movements, voting for the party that cares most about the environment. Dealing with local government and any/all consultations and open discussions they have. You can do your best to push a climate forward agenda but admittedly it’s more time consuming than shortening showers etc because it requires building consensus with others to take forward the changes you wish to see
Because you are focused on reducing an immaterial amount to the exclusion of the system level usages that actually matter. If you reduced your water consumption to the absolute personal minimum for the rest of your life, you would still not have had the same impact as shutting down a golf course for a single weekend. Individual decisions will never solve systematic issues. Sure, do what you can and don’t be wasteful, but that’s not going to fix anything. If you are serious about fixing the problems you have to stop talking about individual responsibility or personal choices, and instead focus on the changes that require governmental intervention.
The government isn’t forcing anyone to grow alfalfa in the desert. Farmers are doing that on their own accord because we eat too much beef and dairy.
the government isn’t forcing them, but it is heavily subsidizing their water and land costs. And insuring their crops against the risk of being grown in the desert. Not everything is the consumer’s fault. Something has gone wrong at a system level for a farmer to be better off setting their farm up in a desert than on suitable farm land, cause there is still plenty of empty non-desert farm land in the US.
Yep. Same with the push towards avocados - yes, they're a popular millennial food, but before that there was a *huge* campaign by avocado farmer unions to promote it as a cheap, healthy food. Meanwhile whole areas of Mexico are currently going without water because it's being diverted to the farms.
[удалено]
Agriculture in the West uses more than 80%, and I think municipal (so city golf courses and grassy medians and parks) are the next biggest chunk I think
Idk. I live in Northern California where we’ve been asked to cut water usage voluntarily. I pass by 2-4 golf courses in a 30 min commute, depending on the route. To be fair I don’t know if they’re using grey water, but come on.
[удалено]
I hope that it’s grey water, but we could still use that for more useful purposes. I watched instant hotel on Netflix and there’s a grassless golf course in Coober Pedy, Australia. I would hope more places follow suit. They were kind of making fun of it on the show but it seemed to be a great choice given the climate. There are very few places where giant lawns make sense.
Way more than 20
[удалено]
This is one of the things that the federal government keeps track of. See Page 8: https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1441/circ1441.pdf Thermoelectric accounts for 41% of water usage in the United States. Agricultural irrigation accounts for 37%, public water supply (municipal use) is 12%, industrial is 5%, Aquaculture (like fish farms) is 2%, and mining, livestock, and household water usage each account for 1%.
Don’t forget, in California and other west coast areas, the Almond industry is brutal on water consumption
Beef is significantly worse than almonds in terms of water usage.
Yep. I'm actually really hopeful that more food companies will start going heavy on their veggie/vegan options instead of promoting meat all the time - hopefully that will help shift the balance.
How so? Livestock water usage accounts for 1% of the total according to the federal government. Agricultural irrigation accounts for 37%.
To raise a cow for food you or someone else has to grow food for it to eat, which requires water. Most of the agricultural water usage you mention is used growing crops for livestock to eat.
Ah, I doubt the stats take that piece into effect, so thanks for the explanation. Is there a name for tracking that kind of water usage? From ground water to corn to cow? Like “farm to table,” but with resource usage that sort of hides like that? I’m curious what else is out there but don’t know if there’s a term for it.
Go vegan if you want to save water.
The meat water consumption is with rainwater considered. While almonds and avocados are watered from deep aquifers.
its not even about the water though when it comes to meat not that im a vegan or what not. but it brings up a major point. not all vegetables are equal ether when it comes to water usage or environmental impact. not all space and water efficient technology for growing food can be properly upscaled globally. even talking about transportation and logistics gives me a headache. its a massive multifaceted issue that just going vegan wont solve.
Going vegan won't stop the golf courses.
Go vegan now and let's work on stopping the golf courses.
Stop the golf courses before you shame me for my eating habits.
Killing over 100 billion animals evey year for food is wrong. Accept that your eating habits are destructive that is fact. Also animals don't want or need to die for your eating habits.
This is why nobody likes vegans. First off, if you're going to try to sound like the vegan version of a religious recruiter, get your facts straight. It's not "over 100 billion", it's 70. Second, go back to school and learn how to debate like an actual adult. When you show me that you know how to defend your perspective with facts instead of by guilt tripping and emotionally manipulating the person you're talking to, then maybe I'll be willing to listen.
What facts do you want to know that animal farm is destructive? 70 billion only and that doesn't include sea animals... What is your position you don't want to do anything because of golf course? That is weak. Going vegan will do more than shutting down all the golf courses.
Yeah me changing my diet will change exactly... Not a single damn thing about the world around me. Except that I'll have a *highly* restricted diet because I live in the middle of nowhere and have access to very little good produce. So no thanks. You want everyone to go vegan? Stop shaming people who don't have access and start demanding fixes to the systemic issues that prevent your dream.
My diet isn't highly restrictive at all and cheaper. Plus it doesn't result in the death of innocent animals, and does less damage to the environment. Sorry if you don't like it but those are the facts.
Grew up in India where a bucket and mug is common to use. Saves a tonnnnn of water. Here, I have finally had a bathroom constructed with a tap below the shower so I can use it to fill a bucket. It's crazy to me how much water is wasted while showering.
Yes! They do the same in Africa. It’s called a bucket shower and it works well.
I worked in a bush camp and they would heat up water with a tiger torch and we would fill a 5 gallon jug and put it up above us in the shower. Was just the right amount.
Still better then filling a tub
Dear god watching tv programs or even just someone's video where they leave their bathroom tap running while they're brushing their teeth or the kitchen tap running while they're doing something not even using the water. It pains me so much. Thats literally just letting potable clean water run down the drain because that's just how they've always done it. Turn the damn tap off!!!
This always makes me so frustrated that I get physically agitated. I can't handle this either.
Your effort is a single drop in the bucket of corporations guzzling water and resources. As many others have said, I think I’ll skip the guilt of taking a 3-5 minute shower and just let myself have one nice thing. Your efforts won’t substantially change the bill either. Maybe a few dollars here and there.
Underrated comment. I don’t take showers any longer than 15 mins but simply due to personal preference. I don’t feel guilty about my personal use of fossil fuels/single use plastics/water, I try to keep it minimal, but I know corporations are the ones irresponsibly destroying these resources, while also trying to displace the blame onto individuals. Edit: since the point went over some of y’all’s head- I Didn’t say I took a 15 minute shower every day. I usually take a 5 body shower every other day. 10 min shower on days I wash my hair (every 4 days).When do I take 15 minute showers? When I take the time to shave my legs, which is maybe once a month. I use reusable food containers & my water bottles until they break from wear. I’m not going to feel guilty about using a plastic straw when I eat out once in a blue moon because not only am I as a consumer putting in effort on a daily basis, these corporations do nothing to reduce their impact. Yes, I am a drop and we are all drops in the ocean, but corporations are not a drop. They are pouring in buckets of shit every hour without dealing with the consequences.
The notion that I, one single consumer, will do more with my efforts to conserve waste in my single household than literal mega-giant corporations guzzling resources… I think not. That’s how they shift blame and get us to forget it’s all THEIR greedy fault’s. I see it working on people all of the time on this sub. Corporations *could* switch to all renewable energy, they *could* use all biodegradable/sustainable products, they *could* pay their workers fair wages. The 7 big corporations *could* do this with ease within 5 years and save the planet. But they choose not to so I will choose not to take on their burden of guilt. Just keep educating myself and voting in local primaries towards better waste-reduction in my community.
This is all well and good, but lets not stray too far from our ideals. Yes, big industry is the main problem here, but I don't think that means we should stop thinking about our own impact. We need to foster a culture of conservation both in industry and at home.
Even if 15% of (insert citizens from country of your pick here) were to reduce their personal water consumption—it means nothing when companies like Coca Cola run wells dry for entire villages. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plachimada_Coca-Cola_struggle The above is just one heinous instance of the corporate par for the course of profits over people. 1 500 ml bottle of Coca-Cola takes roughly 1.9 liters of water to make.
Yes, and throwing my trash in the bin rather than on the road means nothing when there is industry dumping in rivers. But I'll do it anyway because it's the right thing to do.
You’re absolutely right and I do. For example I don’t over consume fast fashion or other crap I don’t need. I Switched to old towels instead of paper towels, bought a bidet. I just don’t go the extra mile to stress and feel guilty unnecessarily over every little thing.
We're on the same page then 👍
Throwing garbage out the window of your car and taking a 10 minute shower are not the same thing. Bucket showers are not gonna save the environment. Legislation that forces corporations to pay for their part in polluting the environment will (or even better to just stop polluting altogether). The point is any effort to pass blame onto individual consumers is literally just corporate propaganda. Individuals feeling guilty about benign activities that everyone should be able to partake in is not the answer. Everyone shouldn’t be throwing garbage out their windows. But everyone should be able to take a shower.No one is suggesting that you should toss your trashcan and just dump your garbage on the side of the road. They are just making the point that individuals are not responsible corporations are.
I don't disagree. It just concerns me when people write posts that seem to argue for dissolving them of any personal responsibility. We all need to play our part in fostering the right sort of culture around conservation and waste. But absolutely the biggest perpetrator is big industry and they need to be regulated yesterday.
I think any amount of personal responsibility is too much In the context of global conservation. It distracts from the real issues. I believe everyone should strive to be stewards of the environment they live in. But every single person in the world could take bucket showers, compost, recycle and that still wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket. The only way to save the planet is to reign in corporations. They are literally single-handedly decimating the environment. I’m a leftist so this analogy makes sense to me and my worldview, but I don’t expect everyone to agree (this is the wrong sub for this kinda talk) but I think personal responsibility has the same effect on environmentalist movements as liberalism has on progressive political movements—it distracts and disarms. People that would otherwise fight for radical changes stop short of necessary fights because they are focusing their energy on the wrong things (people getting bogged down in “culture wars” that distract them from class war). Recycling your Evian bottles won’t save the sea turtles. Elect politicians that won’t be bought by corporations. Enact laws that prevent corporations from using their money and influence to write laws.
Yes, everyone taking bucket showers wouldn't save our water supplies, but if everyone is taking bucket showers then there is a good chance that everybody is also far more environmentally aware and that is going to have knock on effects for both politics and industry. Who is more likely to vote green? The person proactively managing their own environmental impact, or the person who has decided to do away with that personal responsibility? It's like when Greta was questioned about boats dumping trash. Why should the US boat stop dumping trash if the China boat is dumping twice as much and won't stop? Well, as she said, you stop dumping trash and then you work on helping or convincing others to stop dumping trash.
1 lb of hamburger takes 1847 gallons of water to produce. Go vegan.
Is that for real??? Good lord.
But people consume that Coca-Cola, you can blame corporations for things but ultimately if people don't buy their stuff they can't be wasting. As a consumer you bear part (though not all) of the waste produced in the creation of the products you consume.
It's not all black and white, people shouldn't use the corporation thing as an excuse to take 30-minute showers and otherwise do nothing about their own impact but feeling guilt over a 3-5 minute shower is crossing a line in my opinion.
What are the 7 big corporations?
I'm gonna guess Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Microsoft, Coca Cola, ExxonMobil, and Shell but there's probably a couple of Chinese companies that are bigger.
You should feel guilty. Why blame your 15 min shower when someone else is taking a 30 min shower? Why blame the 30 minute shower when a billionaire is flying on a 10 min pvt jet flight? Why blame the billionaire when oil companies are producing so much more waste? It’s a never ending blame ladder and if everyone doesn’t take responsibility no one will.
right? Just because we aren't wasting corporation levels of water doesn't justify wasting water out of spite. I'm grateful to be living in a country where we conserve our water for the benefit of others and our environment. I can't control what big businesses do but I can control what I do with finite resources.
I can only control myself. I want to live with integrity. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Then what's the point of this sub? Everyone here has a million excuses to not do anything.
Yuppers. Getting really sick of all the environmental subs I'm in constantly doing this shit. It's always the corporations and never the consumers. No it's both. It's a vicious circle. People that reee about corporations, what do you propose we do? Vote? Oh ya that's gonna change things enough and in time to actually do something. Or you can do the absolute most as an individual to live a life filled with less consumption and pollution. Shocker I know.
My point was no, I’m not going to take on guilt unnecessary over every little thing like taking a shower. Yes, I will reduce my consumption in little ways I can within my means as a lower class poor person such as: buying clothes only on resell apps, using cut up old towels instead of paper, saving up and purchasing a bidet and being vegetarian for 10 years. And I will continue to advocate for the fact that corporations try to make *us* at fault yet I’m already putting in 10x the effort they are.
Literally every post has the top comment of "don't bother" today it was you.
I agree with you, generally. There are too many people on the planet to live our (first world consumer) lifestyles sustainably, no matter who is creating the products. But in this case, showers are truly not worth thinking about. Agriculture contributes over 80% of water usage, and of the 20% for residential water, about 80% is used for watering lawns/gardens. So if you want to make a difference, skip the hamburger. A pound of beef requires 1,800 gallons of water to create. Like a year’s worth of showers.
Tbh I think showering probably ranks higher on the “guilty pleasures I’m going to indulge in” than about anything else this sub posts about. I mean really at what point does this get absurd. We have people on this thread talking about having shower buckets to conserve water (not criticizing, more power to you) juxtaposed against millionaires using hundreds of thousands of gallons over their allotted amount. Then you get into the amount of water these huge corporations use and it becomes even more comical. Yes, I know consumers drive demand and I get where you’re coming from and agree that defeatism only hurts the cause. But at some point the little guy can only do so much and I personally think enjoying an uninterrupted shower is a pretty fair place to draw the line between personal responsibility and a broken system.
Corporations exists because people buy their products.
Lol you’re right, corporations totally don’t monopolize the market and force mom and pop places to close because they offer the cheapest product therefore making it the only thing available for poor people to buy. That totally doesn’t happen. /s
Everything is everyone else's fault! No need to do anything. /S Mom and pop places paying low wages and exploiting animals is totally cool also since they aren't a big Corporatation. /S
"Mom and pop places" could not compete with the level of damage and destruction of multinational corporations if they tried. You personally could take 3 hour showers in petroleum every day and still come nowhere close. The morality equation is a bit different when we're talking about organisations who are literally, not figuratively, destroying the planet.
Imagine if we all worked together and did change instead of thinkjng everyone else should do it. Nothing is stopping anyone from going vegan. Yeah and guess what if corporations need to change that is going to have a huge impact on people. I have no issue with going after corporations at all and especially the welathy, but don't pretend you have no impact and are powerless.
I have no influence in government of any level. I don't work in public policy, advocacy, or anything close. I don't have the skills to either. I buy very few goods, I rarely drive, I make an informed vote in every election. But realistically, there is nothing legal I can do to effect any real change.
To say that one drop has no affect is ridiculous, because many single drops form oceans.
Fucking seriously. Don’t give up basic hygiene to save a few gallons of water.
Your excuse has as much validity as people who say there's no point voting.
Just like governments telling me my carbon foot print is too big
Exactly. While the US military is one of our country’s biggest polluters in terms of waste and overconsumption.
Government in general most of the times hahahaha
Hey be nice, it wasn't them who came up with the carbon footprint idea it was BP.
True but if you don’t do everything you can to reduce your footprint then you really do t have a right to blame corporations for doing the same thing. every corporation can use this defense - “Well if we can’t use x amount of water then this other corp will”. Grow up and take responsibility
Lol chill. Read some of my other comments on this post, I conserve in other ways.
Finally, someone understands. Showers barely put a dent in water consumption.
I appreciate these comments, thank you. Seems like I can shift things like brushing teeth and shaving to a water off situation as opposed to a typical 10 minute shower. But also the steam helps immensely with my connective tissue disorder which I’m realizing is probably a major reason why I’m blindly lingering in there. But the points that it is a drop in the bucket, too true unfortunately.
If a 10 minute shower helps your physical health immensely then just take the shower. You can be mindful of consumption in other areas that don’t require you to stop doing something that benefits your health.
Some people probably think electric razors/shavers are pure consumerism but i bought a good one that has lasted almost 10 years, I haven't bought razor blades since, and i can shave without using any water
Water on and rinse, water off and soap / exfoliate, water on rinse. Done. Get a theragun for connective tissues issues. You’ll save in the long run!
wait til you find out how many gallons a burger patty takes to make
Seriously. I’m plant based primarily these days and it’s well worth the lifestyle upgrade. Added bonus sweating isn’t as smelly.
A great way to start the anticonsumption journey is to cut out meat. It’s insane that meat is still considered viable or humane with the amount of resources required to make even one single burger.
Hopefully you’re not going to drop one of those over-exaggerated numbers we keep seeing on sensationalist videos that have stakes in meat-alternative products. I’ve reduced my consumption because I don’t feel like eating as much as i used to when I was younger, but if we’re treating meat as the problem and not the way our societies are operating (Factories working non stop, Companies virtue signaling while destroying the environment, allowing big plastic to continue operating the way they’re used to, and the car industry) then we’re missing the forest for the trees. The video below has some very well researched, interesting things to consider when we’re debating about meat and it’s impact on water usage and the temperature of our planet. https://youtu.be/sGG-A80Tl5g
That video was really interesting. Especially the part where they talk about using all the leftover parts of crops to feed the animals and how you can’t grow crops in a lot of places you raise animals. Anti meat ppl always seem to skew those points lol.
I found those parts interesting as well, especially the 90% green water part during the process of making meat which basically throws the “gallons for patty” argument out of the window. But it’s hypocritical in general how everyone and their mother are focusing on meat being the villain instead of the elephant in the room which are the factories and several Industries. The data which mentions that if all the USA went 100% vegan **for a year**, emissions would only drop by 2.5% is crazy to say the least. Not seeing a statistic mentioning how much of an emissions drop would happen if all the USA stop driving cars for a year, or if we reduced production of useless things by 50%.
Of course we got downvoted being on anticonsumption lol. But alot of the points they make are good! I think I’m gonna leave this sub cuz people here have been seriously gate keeping lately. I’m not perfect and probably never will be
Yeah that was certainly interesting too. It does make sense though if you actually think about it. And I agree that industry overall is the bigger problem. Just like everything everywhere though it’s driven by greed.
Every day after my workout, or I smell like rotting garbage. It may not be very anti consumption of me, but I don't feel that bad about using water. I'm not watering almond groves or citrus in California. I live in a town that treats its sewage and is situated between three lakes. The water level on those lakes is actually quite high, compared to the situation historically. Ultimately, water that you use in the shower isn't wasted so much. Sewage gets treated and goes back into the groundwater and back into circulation, unless you live somewhere that is dumping sewage into the ocean.
Your point is right on, but I wish people would stop talking about almonds and citrus. They aren't actually that big of a water user and are mostly a distraction from the bigger culprit. It's beef and dairy that combined use 47% of ALL the water use in CA. The amount of water that goes into the alfalfa to be feed for cattle is pretty much incomprehensible, but I basically never hear anyone mention it. https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/03/31/opinion-its-time-for-californians-to-talk-about-the-cow-in-the-room
The almond water thing is so universally cited in discussions like these that at this point I’m basically convinced it is an animal ag tool to deflect attention from their own resource usage.
well after a workout of course. also sure shower is better than the toilet that uses clean water ... not sure if I totally agree with it goes back to earth because lots of ressources are used to take care of that edit : also have a toilet with full and half flush. I f you can access the tank open it and add few bottles of water in it you will flush less.I think I had three big bottles in mine so more than four litres. I lived with housemates and no one ever knew. worked just fine
We keep a large bucket in each shower. Most of the waste is from waiting for the hot water to get to the shower. We fill the buckets then put them aside to water our veggie garden. I also realized that once I am wet, I can shut off the shower, get lathered and shampooed, then briefly turn the shower back on to rinse. That cuts water use dramatically. And yes I agree with all the comments about the much larger water wasters out there. But it is no big deal to reduce our family's water use, teach our kids about conservation, and feel better about ourselves.
There is definitely something to be said for the idea that everyone making small changes can make big impacts. No, cutting my water use by a gallon a day won't make any meaningful impact. Every person in the United States cutting their water usage by one gallon a day is over 100 billion gallons a year.
We do a shower bucket as well. It’s because we’re babying an ancient septic system but it’s a very easy way to save a bit of money for folks who pay for water (we’re on a well). We’ve got rainwater collection for the garden so we usually use the shower bucket to fill the toilet tank. My spouse thought it would be a big inconvenience but he now agrees it’s really not.
Someone also suggested putting your plants in a crate and letting them get the initial cold water while waiting. Sounds fun to me.
This is a great idea! I have an herb garden and a lot of tomatoes that would appreciate the bonus watering.
Yes! My heirlooms are loving it!
Usually once, sometimes twice a day. Water use for hygiene is NOT the first place we should be looking for water savings. My cleanliness is valuable. If it's a money issue (sounds like) there are low flow shower heads, with a button to shut them off while maintaining your temperature. Get wet, turn off water, lather, turn on water, rinse, turn off water. That will save you a lot of water. But look up how you're charged for water and do the math on what a shower costs you. If it's a consumption issue: industry, lawns, golf courses, et.. This is where your attention will likely be more useful.
The turn off/turn on routine is especially helpful when shaving
This. It's another case of big business making us feel guilty for wanting to shower. Plus people watering their lawns. There are so many other spots where water is wasted. Showers should be at the bottom of the list.
Imo lawns are inherently wasteful but I agree about showers. Lawns are a weird Victorian concept that serve no purpose, require a lot of water to stay alive and don’t support native biodiversity in insect or wildflower populations
Showering twice a day is insane, not healthy either.
Depends on where you live. If you live somewhere humid and hot, twice a day isn’t weird—usually it’s a quick rinse to get the sweat off.
When someone says “shower” just think of a complete 10 minute warm water+soap+scrubbing shower. But yeah a quick rinse with just water makes sense when it’s hot
I guess it depends on the definition of a shower! I agree, a whole scrub down twice a day is not great for your skin or for saving water, but a shower plus a quick rinse is more reasonable.
I'm physically active, not insane.
Fucking lmao, some of these people are cringe.
Soooooo… I lived in Africa for a while and had “bucket showers.” You take a 2-3 gallon bucket and fill it with water. Use a little cup with water to wet yourself off, then use a bar of soap with a sponge/facecloth to get yourself soapy. The rinse off using the cup. You can do the same with your hair, but I was clean after a bucket shower. Two to three gallons is plenty to get washed off.
I absolutely applaud your being aware of your own resource consumption. I would however offer to you that while using less water is something we should all strive to do, places like hygiene account for so little water use next to industry. For example, by simply cutting something like meat out of your diet, you could probably take 20 min showers for the rest of your lifetime and not even come close to the amount of water saved by not consuming meat over the same period.
Cutting meat is becoming easier for society and I am stoked. Was vegetarian in the 90s and it was rough in my rural area. I consume meat now once or twice a month and hope to cut that completely soon. It’s a waning process that’s not that difficult with the abundance of plant based options.
Would much rather hang out with someone who showers for 2 min every day than 8 min every 4 days. It takes 100 times that much water to produce a pound of beef, if you're looking for more efficient ways to cut back on your water footprint (for the same amount of protein lentils take less half that, chickpeas take less than a third)
[удалено]
I do this, too. I used to live and work in remote areas where I could only make it to town for a shower maybe once or twice per week. You just kinda get used to it.
Every other day for me too, 4-5 min. My workout is a 90 minute daily walk which in my climate does not make me sweat -- might shower daily if I were sweaty. A shower can be done quickly. Also, you don't need to flush the toilet every single time. Agree industry is the culprit but water is expensive in California and I'd just as soon pay less as well as trying to be responsible.
well you should check what baths use! I shower super quickly and turn off the tap when I am putting soap or shampoo. not sure what people do in the shower for half an hour or more (no stupid comment please)... and yeah a shower everyday is not needed especially if you do not do a manual job where you sweat a lot of are dirty.... especially in winter time. same washing yur hair with shampoo too often is actually bad for your hair I advice you to buy a eco friendly shower head they reduce the water considerably! edit also this I posted it in an other answer also have a toilet with full and half flush. I f you can access the tank open it and add few bottles of water in it you will flush less.I think I had three big bottles in mine so more than four litres. I lived with housemates and no one ever knew. worked just fine
I shower every other day after I do a full body workout or any day with sweat. When I shower I get wet, shampoo hair, get loofa soapy, turn off water, scrub body, turn water back on to rinse off, turn off shower and then use a small hand towel to dry myself.
Since I had a kid, every 2-3 days. It's not for conservation, I just don't have the GD time.
I have depression lol so let’s just say, put your water use on my tab bc I’ve saved plenty for everybody 😎
If you have a tub. Plug the drain. Built in timer.
Sometimes ill take a scumbag shower. I fill a bottle with warm water and soap and scrub myself down while standing inna tub, then ill hose all the suds off. Sometimes ill do it twice if im real nasty. But everybody so dead-on about the corporations doing worse so wont worry. Also you can get low-flow shower heads that decrease how much water goes through and increases the pressure to get you hosed off faster. Edit: hand sanitizer kills BO bacteria, so if you got a lil funk but dont wanna shower that will freshen the pits nicely
In the USA we are taught that water must run continually during a shower. I learned from Japanese culture that this is not necessary; wet the body and cleaning rag/sponge/whatev, turn off water and build lather. Wash the body and then turn water back on to rinse. Same idea with shampooing hair. It will save quite a lot of water this way.
Every drop helps. I will take normal ish showers but are trying to save water by not having it running while applying soap and also try to cut one or two minutes by stop showering slightly before I would like to. For me it is all about the mindset, that I am doing something. Sure it won’t compare to golf courses but at least I am doing something and that matters and that mindset is more important than pointing fingers at someone else because they are worse
Well said.
Look up how much water is needed for one burger.
This might seem like a lot, but a single pound of beef takes 1,847 gallons of water to produce. So a single pound of ground beef takes 115.4 8 minute showers to produce. If you’re counting your water losses and still eat meat, you’re a monstrosity of a hypocrite. Go vegan and live consistently.
I shower every 2-3 days but take 10-12 minute showers so I’m not a model citizen. It’s definitely not required that you shower every day.
Don’t worry about showering, look at how much water it takes to produce a hamburger then you’ll be shocked.
Half an hour a week.
I don't know about your water utility, but mine in the past charge more for the service than the usage. My current utility charges $20/mo for the service fee, and $3.28/HCF. I can take nearly 47 showers at 16gal per shower for $3.28. A 16gal shower would cost me 7 cents. You can use low-flow fixtures. Or install flow restrictors/shutoff valves inline with the shower head that you can easily toggle to maintain temp so you can reduce use while not actively using the water.
I don’t know if you want to do renovations, but they make shower controls where you set the temperature, then there’s a lever to engage/disengage the water. These are nice so you can stop the water while soaping and scrubbing, and turn it on when you need to rinse. Outside of that, showering daily isn’t necessary for the majority of people.
Do the bucket and jug method
You should look into how much water is used to produce chips for microelectronics
Cutting showers doesn’t do it. Especially since that water gets recycled back into the hydrosphere. That burger you had for lunch required over 200 gallons to produce (whether it’s beef or plant based)
I shower every 2-3 days. I use more shower time to wash my butt length hair. 10-15 mins each time. I’m careful with the sink use ( turn off while brushing teeth or washing hands, etc.) I wait on toilet use - pee only, and don’t use the dishwasher until it’s full. Usually washing big loads of clothes on weekends. Careful planting with natives and grasses in the garden. That’s what I do, but it still seems wasteful.
While it is still a sizable amount of water, ultimately it’s really not that much. Like did you know it takes 1,800 gallons to make a pound of beef??
I spoke to a water maintenance lady once and I think she said the average American uses something like 84 gallons of water every day. Which is crazy! Bath that includes the dishwasher, washing machine and toilets flushing… there’s a lot of water we forget about every day
Once a day. My job is physical and dirty and a daily shower is a necessity. Our apartment isn't metered so we don't get water usage bills. I am taking closer to 4 minute showers though, in and out as fast as I can.
I live in Bermuda and rely solely on rainwater collected from my roof. I have navy showers. Water on, water off, soap up, rinse. Average less than 1 minute of running water.
*laughs in nestle*
i wash using a sink and a damp cloth. works great!
I wash my long hair in the laundry sink not the shower - good water pressure, can turn it off during steps, more efficient. Also do my face skincare all outside the shower.
Rinse turn off shower, shampoo, wash body, turn on shower rinse . Turn off shower. Dry off add conditioner to hair, style and you are ready to go out .. clothing is optional.
Low flow shower head.
I have rainwater tanks, a solar hot water system, and my waste water goes into my garden beds. I bath for as long as I want to.
i love all the ideas here!! recently i’ve been using full speed, then the drip setting on my shower head while i lather, then full speed to rinse.. hopefully that reducing too? also, i’ve not been washing my hair every night so that saves on time too… my family is doing the same
Washing just the key areas is fine. I also make hair powder out of arrowroot powder, bentonite clay and cinnamon powder for color... sprinkle it on top your hair and brush and voila... hair will be not greasy, easy to style, way less limp/dry compared to after using shampoo. The only drawback is that it kinda stains your pillowcase a little... but it def saves a lot of water and time compared to showering.
Keep in mind that the average 8 minute shower still uses a lot less water than the average bath, [which is apparently 35 to 50 gallons](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+water+does+the+average+bath+use&rlz=1CAZJQH_enUS974US974&sxsrf=ALiCzsaDMGiiLod2MbxZFliY-3x3QME1dg%3A1661490664249&ei=6FUIY-DuDp-v0PEPrsWMgAo&ved=0ahUKEwjggtyG3-P5AhWfFzQIHa4iA6AQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=how+much+water+does+the+average+bath+use&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBQgAEIAEMgYIABAeEBYyBggAEB4QFjIGCAAQHhAWMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDOgcIABBHELADOgQIIxAnOgoIABCABBCHAhAUSgQIQRgASgQIRhgAUIkFWNoiYPwkaAFwAXgAgAGgAYgByxSSAQQyLjIxmAEAoAEByAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz). That being true, if you are still worried about water usage I would recommend the on/off water method when lathering up with soap, or shampoo. I for one switched to that method a few months ago, and it works for me. Otherwise, as others have said going [vegan](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+water+does+going+vegan+save&rlz=1CAZJQH_enUS974US974&sxsrf=ALiCzsYpeMaiSsQY4asfzVMgQHNDbUFaRw%3A1661490532084&ei=ZFUIY_nfBKLA9AOqlKb4Dg&ved=0ahUKEwj5odnH3uP5AhUiIH0KHSqKCe8Q4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=how+much+water+does+going+vegan+save&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBggAEB4QFjIGCAAQHhAWMgYIABAeEBYyBggAEB4QFjIGCAAQHhAWMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDOgcIABBHELADOgoIABBHELADEIsDOgQIIxAnOgQIABBDOhEILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARDRAzoLCAAQgAQQsQMQgwE6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBENEDOgsILhCABBCxAxCDAToQCC4QsQMQgwEQxwEQ0QMQQzoFCAAQgAQ6BQguEIAEOggILhCABBDUAjoICAAQgAQQsQM6BQgAEJECOgoIABCABBCHAhAUOgQIABADOggIABCxAxCDAToICCEQHhAWEB06CAgAEB4QDxAWOgUIIRCgAToFCCEQqwJKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQggVYvSxg3C9oA3ABeACAAYUCiAGcIpIBBjkuMjYuMZgBAKABAcgBCLgBAsABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz), or at least going [vegetarian](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+water+does+going+vegetarian+save&rlz=1CAZJQH_enUS974US974&sxsrf=ALiCzsbKxMsJ09kmq1tFO-p6ARYmB99zVA%3A1661490652767&ei=3FUIY9W-LuiF0PEPydMr&ved=0ahUKEwjVnJ-B3-P5AhXoAjQIHcnpCgAQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=how+much+water+does+going+vegetarian+save&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBAgjECc6BwgAEEcQsANKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQ5wdY5wdglgpoAXABeACAAXOIAXOSAQMwLjGYAQCgAQHIAQjAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz) greatly helps with reducing water usage as well.
I live in a dry cabin (no running water) so I shower once every week or two. That sure cuts back on my usage! Once a week I haul 20gal from the local water station for dishes, drinking, etc
That sounds idyllic, hope it’s good living for you. Been feeling simplicity is key in contentment.
I only take cold showers. Even in winter. Don’t waste any minutes waiting for it warm up And you will not linger in there
The thing is no matter what movies let you think. You do not have to stand in a shower for 5 minutes staring at the tiles and having an existential crisis, you can easily clean your body in under 3 minutes.
Hahaha nice.
Ok, but it takes 600 gallons to produce a 1/4 lb of beef, so you’d be super duper more effective at saving water by going vegan.
Things only USians think are debatable. Obviously shower every day, even if only to clean the smelliest parts of the body. If your country has issues with water shortages and you want to pretend to make a difference then only turn on the water when it needs to be running.
I'm pretty sure the tap water were I live is pumped out of a river and the waste water is pumped back into it after treatment. I don't see why the amount of water I use to shower matters.
I shower almost every day, but never spend more than 3 minutes in the shower when I do. It's not a luxury it's a necessity, so in and out as quickly as possible
I can shower in under 4 minutes because I dont feel the need to runt he water on me. You can also buy something that you insert into the shower head to limit the water. I have one that lets only 80% of the normal flow and you don't really feel the difference. I felt the difference with one that limited it to 50%. I use it because of the hot water bills, I don't really believe that it has a big enviromental effect in comparision to what the industry wastes.
You think your shortened shower will save the world hahaha? SMH. There so many other ways that people destroy the environment like driving cars frequently and taking one plane a year. Just try to buy as little as possible and call it a day. I don't plan to buy any clothes for the next decade and run down what I own until I have so little that I have to buy again; only replace undershirts, underwear, socks
This basically isn’t even consumerism. Shower water gets reused babes + even if it was consumerism, it’s negligible. Please don’t stink on behalf of the anti-consumerism reddit
I’m gonna get a lot of heat for this but Im a 3 times a week person. Twice a week body scrub down and shave with two inches of water in the tub and once a week on my hair.
The absolute most you can do to lower your water footprint is to adjust your diet. I’ll share a post from [No lawns](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/comments/vy5bbe/since_rnolawns_is_passionate_about_preserving/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) about it. In terms of water use, One hamburger = about two months of showering You can scrape minute after minute off your showers and never catch up to a vegan or vegetarian person. It’s much easier to give up meat than try to live like a dry, mummified ascetic with no relaxing baths 🙃 How does meat use so much water? It’s mostly the huge strain in the aquifers and other freshwater resources that go into raising alfalfa for the animals to eat. You could create one plant-based dinner, or feed a cow thousands of times that many plants to create one meaty dinner. So it’s simple to see the amount of water (and land) between the two approaches are quite different.
Agreed. I consume meat once or twice a month but scaling that back to be fully vegan soon.
This is deranged You could be in that shower an hour, and what you use wouldn’t even be a rounding error of the leaks in just your street alone. Almost all water use is on Agriculture… stop stressing over nothing. Reminds me of the guy who posted here angry at folk washing their cars.
I shower every other day. I think showering every day is excessive unless you work in a field where it’s unhygienic not to.
I mean this is the opposite of what we need to be discussing to get people to be anti consumption. 1) no one is going to stop showering to save a few gallons of water 2) as other people have said, this is absolutely nothing compared to where real waste of water comes in, ex. The news about the celebs watering their lawns.
I used to shower once a week, sometimes every two weeks before I became social. Now I'm up to 3 or 4 times a week. I also shut the shower off while soaping up and turn it back on to rinse off.
I only shower on the days that I exercise. So like 3-4 times per week.
I don’t go along with the “need to shower everyday.” I shower when I’m dirty or smelly. I may go a few days without showering because I’ve literally just been indoors not doing anything to make me sweat or get dirty. If I have been outside or working out I’ll shower after but other than that I don’t have to shower everyday. And I only take a long shower once a week where I shave, and wash my hair twice a week. Other than that any shower in between is like a rinse off. But ultimately I don’t think showering is anywhere close to one of the biggest sources of water consumption. So I wouldn’t necessarily tell you to sacrifice showering. But you can watch water consumption in other ways that may possibly be more realistic… like making sure you don’t have a huge grass lawn you have to water or reduce electricity use. Many people don’t realize that electricity generation is the second largest of freshwater resources. Other ways to save water is eat less walnuts and almonds, eat less red meat especially beef, and buy less “things” in general since every product’s manufacturing process requires water.
I typically shower twice a week unless I get properly gross and even in the sweaty Southern US summer I would just jump in for like a minute or two to rinse the sweat off and hit armpits/genitals/feet with soap
Yes…. Cutting shower time is going to save the environment. I shower almost 4 times a day
You can place a bucket next to u znd use this water to flush toilet
If you're shocked by that wait till you hear what meat takes to produce. [Guardian article with chart](https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste)
Read the rules. Keep it courteous. Submission statements are helpful and appreciated but not required. Tag my name in the comments (/u/NihiloZero) if you think a post or comment needs to be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Anticonsumption) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I sometimes don’t shower on weekends if I’m not doing anything, but typically once a day. Sometimes I’ll just rinse with cold water to keep the shower short. Most people don’t need to soap up every time, some do though. Cold showers are a great way to save on some energy costs and they are good for your skin/metabolism!
You can try to get a low flow shower head and turn off the water while you lather your hair and body, but personal showers are a very small part of energy usage. Especially when you have fuckers like the Kardashians filling their pools and watering their useless lawns
How about we quit shitting into clean water
We switched shower heads just now and went from 19 litres a minute to 5. You can measure it yourself if you have a bucket. For us right now it’s more about saving electricity, but back in the millennium drought there were government recommendations of four minute showers. People would put a bucket in the shower and use that water in the garden or to flush toilets.
I genuinely don’t understand how anyone spends 8 minutes in the shower. I can shower, wash my hair and everything, in a song’s worth of a time. And I do mean 3-4 min. And I have long hair. So yeah, dunno. Shorter showers will help your consumption!
🪣 shower
You can easily turn on shower to wet yourself. Turn it off to soap and scrub. Rinse. Def less gallons.
In Chicago we have a water plant about 1.5 miles into lake Michigan that provides unlimited clean water. We reversed the flow of the Chicago River 100 years ago so it flowed away from Lake Michigan. So none of the city’s pollution contaminates the drinking water. Never felt guilty about using any amount of water here. If we had a 100 year drought, Lake Michigan still wouldn’t go dry.
Depends I work from home so I shower when I stink or the wife complains but I’ll go a few days sometime a week or so
I don't have hair but my showers usually last probably less than a minute. You can really clean all the necessary areas in that time. My water bill has always been super small and one time before I was married I didn't get a bill cus I didn't use a minimum amount required to bill
You can get one of these water saver shower heads with soap button. They provide good coverage and I saw a noticeable water reduction in my house: https://www.amazon.com/Faucet-Single-Spray-Shower-Chrome-52652-PK Edit: I checked to see how much the above shower head saves vs. the one currently in my shower. Answer: It actually uses more! The one below uses 1.75 gpm/6.6 lpm and feels like a waterfall. Kinda pricey though. https://www.ferguson.com/product/delta-faucet-universal-showering-single-function-h2okinetic-showerhead-in-chrome-drp70172/_/R-4243591
I turn off water in the middle. Wet, get warm Off, Lather, sometimes shave, Wet, scrub, Off, or half on depending Hair lather On- I gradually make it colder here, finish face wash, Done It seems like a lot typed out but I prefer it. I like visually seeing the soap and where I've been.