Convenience and Water Bottles

After reflecting on my behavior in terms of environmental sustainability, I have realized that I unnecessarily waste water bottles. This may seem like a small behavior to change, but it stems from a bigger theme of convenience being more important than the environment and if this behavior can be changed, so can others. There is simply no need to waste anything especially when the solution does not require a lot of effort.

I chose to analyze this behavior because I continually find half-drank water bottles piling up in my room to the point where it looks like I collect them. I now understand that I habitually grab a new bottle when I’m thirsty without looking for ones that I can reuse. Simply, it is easier to grab a new water bottle than fill up a previously used one. This is an embarrassing and a personally unacceptable behavior. To make matters worse, water bottles have just recently been available in my household, which means I was quite content with my life without them.

To change my behavior, I am going to limit or completely stop my consumption of water bottles. Ideally, I will try and convince my parents to stop buying them and prevent myself from even being tempted. Regardless, I can choose to stop using them and use a reusable bottle. If, for some reason I cannot find one or I’m in a rush, I can use a plastic one and promise to continue using it until it is physically unable to hold water.

Any solution I choose to implement will yield positive results and I really don’t see any challenges stopping me from doing so. The hardest part of this change is going to be remembering not to grab that water bottle on my way out the door, but a simply sticky note with fix that.