Making Sustainable Choices
• Just because you CAN take a 20-minute shower doesn’t mean you SHOULD, when one person in five across the world has no access to safe drinking water.
• Just because you CAN buy bottled water doesn’t mean you SHOULD, when science is finding that the chemicals in some types of plastics are likely making us sick.
• Just because you CAN buy a cup of gourmet coffee in a paper cup complete with cardboard sleeve to keep your hands cool doesn’t mean you SHOULD, when the amount of trash we’re sending to landfills has DOUBLED since 1960.
• Just because you CAN leave the lights on, the television blaring, and all of your electronics on “power-save” mode doesn’t mean you SHOULD, when the U.S. per capita energy consumption is nearly 500 times greater than the per capita consumption in Afghanistan and countless other countries.
In the US, we’ve become accustomed to things that seem like unbelievable luxuries to many others in the world. I’m not talking about “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” luxuries, but simple things like clean water and adequate sanitation available day or night.
Statistics like these have made me change some of my habits. And they make me think hard about my home improvement and interior design projects. Am I making sustainable, smart, healthy choices? Or am I seeking luxury at the expense of practicality and common sense?
I’d like to ask you the same thing I’ve asked myself: What’s wrong with drinking tap water when one fifth of the people in the world would be thrilled to drink the water that comes out of your shower?
