I used to but now I do not anymore.
I live under the sea level. We as a nation control the water. It is our bitch. I can do with water whatever the fuck I please. We won that war a long time ago. Water listens to ME.
Not only do I leave it running, I belittle it in the process.
You’ll get your swim-uppance soon enough!
Yeah I’ll not be guilted into the notion at saving SECONDS of residential water use has any impact on climate. Water savings by industrial process and unmanaged municipal leaks are much higher on the list. The seconds of reduced residential use are less than a “drop in the bucket”
Caveats being I don’t live in a drought striken area, I don’t take overly long showers to begin with, and my utility bills are a non issue financially.
By that logic nobody has to do anything, because you can always find someone who has a higher impact that should start first.
- Why stop driving my petrol car, trucks or container ships have a much higher impact
- Why stop flying around the globe for no particular reason, Taylor Swift should stop
- Why should I start energy saving, cryptominers should stop
Don’t get me wrong, you leaving the shower on for 10s longer than necessary will not be the end of the world. It’s just this mentality of: I am pro climate change (policies) as long as I don’t have to change anything about my own life, that you can hear way to often.
Hey you show me the meaningful impact, and I’m all for it. For example the reduction of single use plastics in communities near coasts and waterways. It measurably reduces coastal waste. Great, let’s do it and the consumer can help.
Anything that has no measurable impact is just performative green guilting.
I just won’t be pressured into carrying the guilt of industry I don’t even profit from while I’m soaping my balls.
That is not the point I was trying to make. As I said, it is not the end of the world just because someone leaves the shower on for a few seconds longer than necessary and there are obviously way more important topics we need to address.
To be honest when I saw the question I haven’t thought about climate at all. I turn it off for as long as I can remember and was curious how others are doing it. But everytime something comes up that has to do with saving energy/ressources there are people saying: I don’t change because my personal impact doesn’t matter. To exaggerate my point one person changing one tiny thing of course doesn’t make a difference, but if 8 billion people change 10 tiny things it can have an impact. At some point we have to start making a change.
However, I totally get your point about the industry polluting our planet even though they knew better decades ago. And now everyone has to suffer from their mistakes or rather greed.
It’s more that yes, of every person on earth turned the water off while soaping, religiously, it STILL wouldn’t even be a drop in the bucket.
I acknowledge that community improvement requires everyone to chip in in ways that aren’t immediately tangible.
Unfortunately the magnitude of industrial use and loss is so vast that residental budgeting on this topic doesn’t move the needle.
That doesn’t mean residential changes aren’t ever possible.
For example improved insulation and heating and cooling tech can meaningfully reduce grid spike demand.
Flattening demand into a more consistent, distributed curve means we can transition to green energy sources with greater confidence, and decommission coal and gas power more successfully.
So that’s a topic I’m all for making changes on, and I have. (Updated south facing windows, with facing window awnings, plus updated attic insulation and a mini split heat pump)
My home is more comfortable, more resilient and more aligned with future community goals.
So it isn’t that I’m not willing to try (and spend) to do my part. It’s that I’m very critical of green guilting to shift blame.
I couldn’t agree more.
And I can only reiterate, with my initial comment I was not attacking you personally or trying to guilt you into doing something. I also don’t like when people do that. In fact, it wasn’t even that much about saving water in the shower. It is just this blocking attitude of: I don’t do it, others should start first without even thinking about it, that you can often read in these threads which bugged me at first.
By your comments you showed that you actually thought about it and came to the conclusion that the impact is little and there are more important topics you want to address, which is a totally fair point.
It’s no worries man. We had an on topic discussion , just seemingly from two sides of the table, but I think we’re pretty aligned. (As these things usually go).
I think Lemmy is too cautious or something. You talked about your position without attacking me, and you sure shouldn’t have to apologize for that. If anyone here can’t handle that, they should turn their AOL internet CD in and be done with it.
Can’t stop, sorry. The shower is my final refuge and if I start being conscientious about water usage there, I will end up breaking down in a denny’s bathroom at 2am or something.
Using California as an example, agriculture consumes 4x the water of everything else combined - business + industry + parks + homes.
Austerity at homes is generally more of a show than anything else. You can read about the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, but it looks like the legislation isn’t mandated to be implemented until the 2040s.
No because then the water becomes hot.
I turn the water off.
Growing up we used to live in a house with what I swear was the smallest boiler ever so the hot water would only last for maybe 1-2 showers before needing some time to get hot again. So leaving the water running meant no hot water midway through the shower, or forcing the next person to wait to take a shower.
It’s a habit that stuck with me ever since, I’ve found that I don’t really need the water running the whole time anyway.
Yes. I don’t take wildly long showers, so the conservation isn’t really worth the convenience of being able to step in/out of warm water at will.
One of the few benefits to a well/septic.
I have to pay zero attention to water conservation. Hell, when it rains a lot I have to let some faucets run. Just pumping water from one side of the house to the other. Otherwise the side with the well can get moisture in the basement
Interesting, hopefully the well serves your water needs. I’ve interacted with a fair amount of people that don’t seem to know where the water from their well comes from, how it gets there, or how it can be effected by local changes…
Wells aren’t infinite…
If you’re not using enough it overfills.
But the septic tank has drainage and can distribute the water.
Like. I don’t really get what you’re trying to say
Yeah, you’re correct, I was just worried if you have enough neighbors, and they don’t realize they’re all affecting each other with water usage, you might find yourselves having to dig deeper wells.
Even in the rare densely populated areas where wells were common, there’s not many left.
Most people in my area just hook up to city services instead of sink more money into their systems for substantial repair. I don’t think there’s many others left at this point, except maybe the 100+ year old houses whose plumbing wouldn’t survive modern pressure.
In rural areas where that’s not an option, your issue doesn’t exist.
Not like if it’s a big deal, but if we’re gonna be pedantic, then we can’t go halfway.
Yes, but only because it doesn’t take very long to lather up. It’s annoying to have to readjust the water valves to get the temperature right again after having it off for only a minute or two. I feel like I waste more water just letting the shower run on startup to get the cold water to flush out of the hot water pipes.
How do you soap up without water? You just scrape dry soap all over your body?
Most people use liquid shower gel.
Basically unusable with our water. It just won’t wash off. Bar soap doesn’t have such problem.
I have the opposite problem. Bar soap leaves me with a sticky residue that, ironically, doesn’t wash off easily and leaves me feeling grosser than when I started the shower. I think skin type may be a factor.
I still do, but I used to, too.
Mine is easy enough to turn down the water to keep a smaller flow to maintain comfort and water temperature while soaping, so I do that.
Naah. Turning it off and on again would mess up the temperature.
I also keep a razor in the shower, and shave in the hot water… wild card!
But after seeing [email protected] posts for awhile, I got a double sided safety razor… and it’s really improved the experience.
What did it make better? I just use cheap disposable razors.
The safety razor is cheap over the long run.
I have an adjustable safety razor, so I can dial in the sharpness i need; So far I’m still on my first blade after 2 months, I find I only need one pass to get a clean shave. When I’m done shaving, its really easy to get the hair off the blades (rinse it off) which I think helps alot with longevity of the blade. Plus everything is tidier since I dont have bags of disposables everywhere.
With disposable razors I found I had to go multiple times, and sometimes use two different razors - not to mention the trash build up. Where I live shaving isn’t so common, so getting a consistent supply of disposable razors was a bit of a logistical issue. (i’d always be swapping out what I was using based on what I could find)
I did some research on YouTube before I bought it, and I thought this is too much work, cuz everybody has their detailed meditative process they do. Oh you pre-soak the skin, okay now you get the soap, now you lather up the soap, now you apply it multiple times, now you take the razor with a fresh blade, and go one direction. Now go the other direction. Now go perpendicular to both of those. Then after the shave clean all of the soap, now apply an aftershave lotion, take the blade out of the razor… And I should have ignored all of that, because it’s fine just to use it like a disposable razor in the shower. No fuss. The people who like the process can really enjoy the process, but I now realize it’s totally unnecessary
I easily spend an hour in the shower.
Sometimes if I’m really exhausted or sleepy, I’ll plug up the shower and imagine myself meditating in a waterfall.
If i turn the water off it takes a good 30 seconds to be hot again, so it just stays on.