Jesse Rivest's Blog
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Sunday, April 23, 2006
Earth Days: fresh water thoughts
After a short stint of travelling through Australia and Southeast Asia, I've gained appreciation of earth's possibly most precious resource: fresh water. Prior to my travels, I would have 15 to 20 minute showers, daily, and run water out of the kitchen faucets excessively.
I started showering during the evenings, instead of early mornings when I am not quite awake. In the early mornings, I found I would sit in the shower excessively long, soaking up heat energy and water while I was half-sleeping. It took a while to become accustomed to evening showers, but I found that if I went to bed fresh and clean, I woke up fresh and clean. I drastically reduced my water usage, in the shower, by getting soaked and then stopping the water while I washed myself. I would then run the water again for a rinse!
Sometimes that hot water felt so good on my aching muscles, though, you know? Well, here's some alternatives that I thought of: get a massage - or do some stretches, swim in the ocean, relax with a blanket, do some yoga, whatever you prefer. I can choose to conserve water and heat energy.
And when it's very hot and humid, such as it is in tropical places, I found myself having a couple quick rinses during the day. But they were one or two minutes duration, and I ran cold water (which is warmed by the sun) only. I only did this when the ocean wasn't nearby!
Before travelling, I used to run water out of the kitchen faucet until it was the perfect temperature for drinking (I like 22 to 30 degree Celcius). And I would dump any excess water from my glass. I look back and feel like this behaviour was crazy! Now I can fill a jug of water and let it sit at room temperature. If I wanted cold water I could put it in the refrigerator, and I can heat water to make it hot. I don't care for microwaves ovens, but my gut feeling is that one minute at 500 Watts is one of the most efficient ways to boil a cup of water in the kitchen.
I won't forget Great Keppel Island, or any of the roadhouses on the Nullarbor or the west coast of Australia - they captured rainwater and offered it as drinking water. I believe there were purification filters in their systems, but even if not, I felt great about drinking rainwater. Now I drink chlorinated, chemically treated water from the city of Calgary, and my gut feeling says rainwater is better. It certainly tastes better!
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I started showering during the evenings, instead of early mornings when I am not quite awake. In the early mornings, I found I would sit in the shower excessively long, soaking up heat energy and water while I was half-sleeping. It took a while to become accustomed to evening showers, but I found that if I went to bed fresh and clean, I woke up fresh and clean. I drastically reduced my water usage, in the shower, by getting soaked and then stopping the water while I washed myself. I would then run the water again for a rinse!
Sometimes that hot water felt so good on my aching muscles, though, you know? Well, here's some alternatives that I thought of: get a massage - or do some stretches, swim in the ocean, relax with a blanket, do some yoga, whatever you prefer. I can choose to conserve water and heat energy.
And when it's very hot and humid, such as it is in tropical places, I found myself having a couple quick rinses during the day. But they were one or two minutes duration, and I ran cold water (which is warmed by the sun) only. I only did this when the ocean wasn't nearby!
Before travelling, I used to run water out of the kitchen faucet until it was the perfect temperature for drinking (I like 22 to 30 degree Celcius). And I would dump any excess water from my glass. I look back and feel like this behaviour was crazy! Now I can fill a jug of water and let it sit at room temperature. If I wanted cold water I could put it in the refrigerator, and I can heat water to make it hot. I don't care for microwaves ovens, but my gut feeling is that one minute at 500 Watts is one of the most efficient ways to boil a cup of water in the kitchen.
I won't forget Great Keppel Island, or any of the roadhouses on the Nullarbor or the west coast of Australia - they captured rainwater and offered it as drinking water. I believe there were purification filters in their systems, but even if not, I felt great about drinking rainwater. Now I drink chlorinated, chemically treated water from the city of Calgary, and my gut feeling says rainwater is better. It certainly tastes better!
-- Back to http://www.jesserivest.com
The following links are for my site feeds:
http://www.jesserivest.com/~blog/blog/feed/atom.xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/JesseRivest-StarvingMuzo
