REDUCE WATER WEEK

It's our last week of the No Impact Project! This week was Reduce Water Use week! For tips on how you can reduce your water impact take a look at our other blogs this week!

This week Maria reduced her shower time to 5 minutes. This was nothing new since her travels abroad in Australia included limiting shower time to 4 minutes max. In many other countries it is not strange to have rules limiting shower time. "In some of my friends' host houses they had timers in the shower to remind users to not shower over 4 minutes. After a while, you get used to it, and find that 4 or 5 minutes is plenty of time to get clean."

Aaron feels very strongly about water conservation and offers some interesting quick facts on water use that is usually passed over:

Something commonly ignored in water conservation is the consumptive nature of consumer products For example, a pair of jeans requires over 10,000 liters of water to grow and process the cotton and then manufacture the product itself. A modest-sized steak will consume almost 5,000. Even something as insignificant-seeming as a tea bag consumes about 90 liters of water. Taking short showers might make you feel fuzzy inside, but if you want the most water conservation for your effort, data shows that the larger impact can be had by changing your buying habits.

What I did to reduce my water consumption this week is that I drank only water. This sounds stupid, but according to data, this has a MUCH greater environmental impact than any domestic change I could have made.

So let's talk about some common drinks, and how much water it takes to produce them.

1 liter of soda: 250 liters of water
1 liter of milk: 1000 liters of water
1 liter of coffee: 1100 liters of water
1 liter of beer: 300 liters of water
1 liter of wine: 720 liters of water
(Data derived from here)

To give this some context, the average American uses 300-400 liters of water per day in domestic use. Millions of Americans brew a pot of coffee every morning. And get this: that pot of coffee is THREE TIMES more consumptive of water than all the showering, washing flushing and hosing that person will do for the rest of the day.

A five minute shower uses around 40 liters of water. A can of coke uses more than double that. So which would you rather give up? Two showers, or one can of coke? Which do you think is the more effective way to reduce your water footprint?

Here's an extremely simplified estimation of four drinks I consume regularly in a normal week. By not drinking them this week, here is an approximation of how much water I saved:
5 Cups of coffee forgone: 5500 liters of water saved
3 Cups of tea forgone: 270 liters of water saved
3 Liters of soda forgone: 750 liters of water saved
2 Liters of milk forgone: 2000 liters of water saved

The total water I saved is 8,520 liters in one week. The average domestic American water use is under 3,000 liters per week.

So let me be clear. By giving up coffee, milk, soda and tea, and replacing them with regular tap water, I saved nearly TRIPLE the water that I would have by giving up ALL my domestic water use.

So if I stopped showering, didn't wash my clothes or dishes and didn't water the lawn for 20 days, this would have the same impact as me giving up unnecessary drinks for 7 days. Let that sink in. Which option do you think gives you more environmental benefit for your effort? To me the decision is obvious. I'll give up coffee before showers any day.


Thanks for following USEE's No Impact Summer, make sure to check out our other weeks including No Trash Week, No Consumption Week, Reduce Electricity Week, and Eat Local Week. We hope our trials will inspire you to try some no impact actions of your own!

NO CONSUMPTION WEEK

How did we reduce our consumption??

Andree' didn't buy anything except snaps and a couple other things for a project she has been working on to make reusable bags and some other DIY projects her family is working on. The reusable bags work just like zip lock bags and are great for bringing your lunch or snacks with you. At the office we are all testing our bags to see how they hold up in the wash and with different foods etc. If all goes well, there will be some auctioned off at the Bash! We'll keep you updated! The purchases that Andree' did make went towards projects to make her and her family less consumptive in the future:

I also had to buy ear plugs for my daughter who had tubes put in her ears, and Joe had to buy a couple parts for his VW (but, he went to the pick and pull and got them used rather than new!).
Overall I think we did pretty well with our week. We do have a list of things we need to buy for our upcoming vacation though...

Charice was pleased at the little impact that no consumption week had on her wallet although there were a few humps that she had to get over:

1. Meals- Planning and packing for me! I have been planning my meals the night before to take the next day. It doesn't take that much time and I even created a new recipe for potato salad. See below! A small problem that I encountered was the bulky packaging. I ride my bike so, I carry everything in my backpack. I try to use packaging that is reusable but, it tends to be bulky and take up a lot of room in my pack. Luckily Andree's reusable cloth food containers fit right in my bag - problem solved. Thanks Andree'!

Not your Mama's potato salad

6-10 Red potatoes
3/4 cups -Greek Oikos yogurt
1/2- red onion diced
tsp- truffle oil
salt and pepper to taste
extra- add cilantro

Boil potatos and mash to your likeing. Personally, I like bigger pieces of potatoes. Then add Greek yogurt, diced red onions, truffle oil, salt and pepper(and cilantro if you're up for it) mix all together.

2. Social life- Hanging out. My friends all wanted to go to the climbing gym on Wednesday night. My membership expired so, I would have to pay an entrance fee. I suggested a bike ride up city creek. We were able to enjoy a beautiful summer's night and a good work out.

3. My purchase-- face wash. I ride my bike practically everywhere so, I get sweaty often and I wear makeup- this was one purchase I couldn't go without.

"I really enjoyed the no consumption week and I hope to continue with packing and planning my meals as well as, choosing a couple of activities per week that involve no spending."

Maria also enjoyed a week that was easy on her wallet, but did give in to bring a friend out to dinner at Omar's Rawtopia. At least it was raw, organic food. She has also been making use of Andree's reusable bags to bring lunch to work. At USEE we tend to enjoy our lunches while catching some hot direct afternoon sun right outside out office. Maria also enjoyed a (mostly) consumption free camping trip to Southern Utah.


We brought all of our own food with us and enjoyed cooking over the campfire. We discovered an interesting treat of roasting Starbursts and putting them between two Nilla waffers.

There's every reason to be skeptical, but they were great! We also enjoyed banana boats and traditional s'mores.

Although it was a purchase, my favorite part of no consumption week was the purchase of a perfectly good light brown sweater that I got from a little thrift store in Green River while camping. Yes it was shopping but at 20 cents, it certainly will make me think twice about my future purchases!


Aaron enjoyed a consumption free biking trip:

Ironically, going out to enjoy nature is usually a highly consumptive activity. Every time we go camping, boating or trekking, we end up destroying or diminishing the very things we set out to find. We drive hundreds of miles to pretty places to start our trips, and in our adventuring wake we leave a stream of waste that could otherwise have been avoided. Most people take disposable plates and utensils camping, buy bottled water because they'll be away from a tap, consume disposable fuel canisters for camp stoves, build bonfires that contribute enormously to air pollution, etc. Anyone who has been camping knows what I'm talking about. Hypocritically, environmentalists to go great lengths to experience nature, and as a by-product they wreck exactly what they strive for.

But not me. As part of no-consumption week, I would experience nature without doing it any harm! And so begins the Impact Free Bicycle Naturescapade.

So I left at around 5:00 on Saturday, from my home near the U of U, to ride my bicycle out to the Great Salt Lake and spend an evening watching the sun set over the water. Never mind that I don't have an effective setup for bicycle touring; It's no consumption week and I need to go adventuring with the stuff I already own. So I just rode my racing bicycle, while wearing a large overnight pack I usually take backpacking. This turned out to be massively uncomfortable for a number of reasons.

My bike's front-pitched aerodynamic riding position did not mesh well with wearing a pack, and by the end of the 25 mile ride, my entire body was excruciatingly sore. I had to exert my back muscles to keep the extra weight upright, giving me a sore back, and the extra weight put more pressure on my feet and butt as I rode, giving me even more additional pain to the already strenuous ride. As for the strenuous ride, a big backpack doesn't really help that either. The pack was not in any way aerodynamic, and its weight meant extra heft to push around. So this all added up to a very trying bike ride, and by any measure the trip should have been a failure.

So why did I have such an awesome time? The trial made it worth it. Would I have been more comfortable driving to the lake and car-camping? Most definitely. Would I have been more comfortable riding a touring bike with panniers? Oh yes. But I'm equally sure I would not have had any more fun, and that makes all the difference. Giving up consumption is not always easy, but it is almost always worth it. We trick ourselves into thinking we need a lot more things than we really do, but what's important is being happy with whatever we have.

No Impact Summer

Inspired by the readings of No Impact Man, USEE has decided to take on a No Impact Summer!! For the next 5 weeks, USEE will be taking a new challenge every week to reduce our impact on the environment. We will be posting the stories of our successes and frustrations as we work through this project. We hope you'll join us in trying some no impact challenges for yourself! Here's what our summer looks like:

Stage 1: July 9-15 NO TRASH WEEK
-Reduce amount of trash, compost, use reusable bags, scrap paper, recycle

Stage 2: July 16-22 NO CONSUMPTION WEEK
-Don't buy anything new that is not food, no extra shopping, try second hand if needed

Stage 3: July 23-29 REDUCE ELECTRICITY WEEK
-Work with the lights off, turn off lights in your house, unplug chargers and appliances

Stage 4: July 30-August 5 EAT LOCAL WEEK
- Buy from the farmers market, get creative, incorporate at least one local food into every meal

Stage 5: August 6-12 SAVE WATER WEEK
-Take shorter showers, turn off water in the sink, hand wash

Keep checking our blog and facebook for posts throughout our journey and feel free to share stories with us about how you are reducing your impact!

No Impact

Hello All,

I wanted to share with you my excitement for my new summer read that is not only entertaining but honestly life changing. The book is called "No Impact Man-The adventures of a guilty liberal who attempts to save the planet and the discoveries he makes about himself and our way of life in the process" by Colin Beavan.

The book is about Beavan's project to live a year with no environmental impact. He goes through the year in stages by eliminating waste, motorized transportation, non-seasonal or local food, and electricity. Oh and I forgot to mention that he lives in the middle of NYC! To most of us in the western world, a project like this seems impossible and not very attractive, however, the things Beavan learns about himself, his family, and our culture, surprisingly or not so surprisingly, bring a sort of happiness that can not even size up to receiving this years newest gadgets.

There is an irreplaceable happiness that comes from spending time with family and friends, exercising, eating well, and knowing that you are helping the world around you. This book explains the hardships that Beavan and his family have to work through and he admits that it isn't always easy, but the intimacy that he finds with his family and new people he meets seems to make the project well worth it.

During the project Beavan started his blog. Here, you can look through the archives to see the challenges he and his family faced and how the project has impacted his life in the long run. There's also tips of little things you can do to decrease your environmental impact and even links for educators for an Environmental Education program!

There are also links on the website to try the experiment yourself for just one week! I know our lives are busy and we live for the conveniences such as bottled water, imported food, and of course how would we life without electricity?! However, I think it would be more than worth it to give up one week of our entire lives to try to live impact free. You can view the short, inspiring video clip here.

Truly just reading the book has given me a different perspective on how much we use and waste in a day. I take a second to think about how many times I throw something in the trash can or flip the switch to turn a light on. I hope you'll take a look at the blog, read the book, or watch the movie. I think it's a great perspective for everyone to be aware of, especially in our wasteful society. I hope it changes your outlook like it did mine and might inspire you to try it for a week on your own! Let us know!

Maria