Walls Surrounding Shower Sustainability – EVST 100: Intro to the Environment

In my Step 3 blog post, I found that my biggest challenges with reducing my temperature or time in the shower were forgetting, or just ignoring the challenge in the case of lowering the temperature. While in the shower, I generally either forget that I am supposed to be taking a short shower, or pretend that I forget that I am supposed to be lowering the temperature. One way that I addressed my problem of forgetting that I am supposed to be taking a shorter shower is by putting a note to myself on my shower caddy and on my shampoo bottle telling me to lower the temperature of my shower because those are two things that I see every time I take a shower. I broke the barrier about forgetting that I am supposed to be taking a shorter shower by setting an alarm on my phone to go off after 5 minutes. When the alarm went off, I didn’t always get out of the shower right away, but I knew how long I had been in the shower for, and knew that I had to get out soon. This also created a barrier of remembering to bring my phone to the bathroom with me when I went to shower. Therefore, I had to set another note on my shower caddy telling myself to get my phone from my room. After a couple days though, I began to remember on my own.

I believe that accountability was also an issue for me for lowering the temperature of my showers. To make myself more accountable for the temperature of my showers, I had a friend agree to ask me what the temperature of my shower was each day. I began by keeping a log of my shower temperatures, but I think it was be easy to lie on a log or just not account for a temperature. I decided to have a friend ask me what my shower temperature was each day because if I am talking to another person, I will be less inclined to lie, and I will tell the truth. If necessary, I will change my actions for the next day.

After EVST100, I believe that I will continue to take shorter showers. I don’t think I will continue to keep the temperature low while taking showers, but I will definitely not be taking scorching hot showers the way I was before. Taking shorter showers has given me more time to sleep in, get ready, and do other activities. It is also a very simple way to reduce my individual energy usage.

Julie Cantor says:

November 24, 2013 at 9:42 pm

I think it’s great that you are focusing on lowering your hot water usage in addition to shower water usage! Taking both on for your sustainable behavior challenge must not have been easy, but it seems that you have a great system working. Between your notes and timer, you have set yourself up for success! I also had trouble with accountability, but my friends had no interest in helping me conserve water, they did the opposite…anyways keep up the short and cooler showers!

canfiejh says:

November 26, 2013 at 11:12 am

Your progress in this challenge seems to be extremely similar to mine. Like yours, my biggest barrier seemed to be simply forgetting that I was supposed to be taking shorter and cooler showers. What I found was that if i just kept at it, the easier it got to remember. I liked your idea about setting an alarm after 5 minutes on your phone, I guess the only problem with that is that sometimes I think I would forget to set the alarm on my phone. It sounds like you’re doing a good job on this challenge, and it’s good that you are confident in your ability to keep taking shorter showers after this class ends.

Connor Lenox says:

November 26, 2013 at 12:30 pm

I already said this on another post, but i’ll say it again here. It never even occurred to me to think about temperature. All I did was simply cut back on my time without even thinking about it. For my last few weeks, i’ll have to work on reducing the temperature too. I really should, because my showers are always obscenely hot. I agree 100% about the assessment of your behavior change after the challenge. I will most certainly continue to monitor and cut back on my shower times. My showers were WAY too long before, and as you state, I have a lot more time in the mornings to do whatever I need to do, instead of wasting them standing idly in the shower.

jimenezs says:

November 26, 2013 at 1:34 pm

The way you addressed the barriers and forgetfulness are very similar to my form of attack. I would similarly forget or ignore the challenge because the fact is I had to much on my mind to stress myself out with just another task. Similarly I have used methods or reminders to help me fulfill this challenge because it overall is for a really good reason. I think keeping a log of the temperature of your showers and getting your friends involved was also a great idea. I’m glad to see that the effort that you have put into this challenge to make it successful have really worked for you.

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