In Hot Water? Not Anymore – EVST 100: Intro to the Environment

I don’t mean to brag here, but I’m pretty much the greatest person on the planet. Why, you may ask? I now take showers that last a reasonable amount of time. Yeah, thats right. Back in my 2^nd post, I said that the main reason for my absurdly long showers was that I was tired in the morning, and sitting in a nice, hot shower for hours on end was soothing and relaxing. I was nervous at first, as there was no feasible way that I could time myself while in the shower to make sure that I wasn’t taking too long. I would only be able to know my time only after I got out. However, a blessing in disguise revealed itself in the form of Farber’s custodian. Fortunately, he always seems to come into the bathroom 5 or 6 minutes after I enter the shower, at 8:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays and 9:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays (roughly). Right when I hear him come in, I know that I’ve been in the shower for around 5 minutes, so I can time myself accordingly. I stay in for another few minutes, and then get out. Its been working, as I’ve been able to cut my average shower times down to about 8 minutes. Besides from the helpful reminder from the custodian, I do not really need any other reminders or prompts. It has worked remarkably well, so I don’t really think think there is much of a need to do anything else.

modernshowers11 — I don’t know what she’s so happy about. THINK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT!!!

In terms of a reward, I am slightly embarrassed to reveal that I allow myself to splurge and take a longer shower every Sunday. However, “long” is relative. My Sunday shower might be 10 or 11 minutes, a few minutes longer than my (and the national) average, but it is still SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than what it used to be. This is actually a very effective way to reduce barriers. I allow myself to have a nice, relaxing Sunday shower, which makes the rest of the week seem much more palatable.

If I were to be asked the question “Would you continue to limit your shower times even after this challenge has concluded?”, my answer would be an emphatic “yes”. There is really no good reason for me not to. My previous shower habits wasted hundreds of gallons of water a week, and I didn’t really get any benefits out of it. It was a bad habit perpetuated by laziness and apathy. However, after knowing the environmental impacts of my previous behavior and how simple and easy it was fix, I will no doubt continue with my new shower habits.

Julie Cantor says:

November 24, 2013 at 3:12 pm

Looking at your 2nd and 3rd posts on your shower times, I saw a considerable drop in time during your first week of the challenge and that was very impressive! I know that most people don’t wear a watch in the shower or have a timer, so figuring out the timing of the custodian coming into the bathroom was very resourceful. I agree with your statement that reducing our water usage is one of the easiest behaviors to alter, and barriers such as being tired and needing a 15-minute escape were just no excuse for wasting water. Next school year you might not have the same class or shower schedule, so maybe start to brainstorm ways of timing yourself in the shower? Great job, it’s obvious that your care for the environment is visible through the behavior change!

Julia DeFranco says:

November 26, 2013 at 1:02 am

I like the idea that you used the reward of longer showers on Sundays. I haven’t really set up a reward for myself for this challenge at all, but I know that taking longer showers on Sundays or Saturdays would definitely help me to remember how long my showers used to be, and what I should be avoiding. It would also just help to reward myself for taking short showers the entire week. As for figuring out how to time my showers, I started setting an alarm on my phone for 5 minutes so I knew that after it went off I had to get out shortly after it. Another thing that helped me was listening to music while I was in the shower because I knew that after about 2 songs, it’s time to get out.

canfiejh says:

November 26, 2013 at 11:26 am

I liked your idea about a reward, but maybe it would be a good idea to have your reward something that doesn’t harm your progress in the challenge. For me, allowing myself to eat more junk food has seemed to work nicely. It does seem like you are doing a very good job though with the challenge, and I wish you the best of luck in continuing your progress.

jimenezs says:

November 26, 2013 at 1:40 pm

I really found amazing the way that you began to realize the length of your showers. It used a tactful method that really required no effort. For me, I tried a watch and although that did not completely work I was able to find other methods that help me. I was amazed also at how punctual your custodians are, mine seem to have somewhat of a random schedule. Although I do believe that maybe your incentive should include something that does not take away from the progress you’ve made so far.

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