Stay Supporting Shower Sustainability

Throughout the entire SBC, I have noticed many issues and barriers that I have come in contact with. Obviously I knew that there were other people in the class doing a similar challenge, but I didn’t even think that they might be experiencing the same barriers as I was. Seeing how everyone else was dealing with the same issues as me was reassuring in a sense. It was nice to see that not everyone could remember to take shorter showers, and that everyone was having trouble timing their showers. For a little while, I thought that maybe I just wasn’t invested enough in the challenge, and that that’s why I kept forgetting that I needed to be taking a shorter shower. But seeing that everyone else was having the same struggle made it clear that it wasn’t directly my fault for forgetting, and that as college students we all have a lot on our minds, so it was pretty common for people to forget. It was also interesting to see how other people dealt with the barriers. I began putting reminders on my phone and on my shower caddy reminding myself that my shower needed to be shorter. Some people had waterproof watches that they used. Others used human reminders such as hearing the custodian come into the bathroom, and knowing that it had been a couple of minutes and it was time to get out.

Overall, the Sustainable Behavior Challenge wasn’t the hardest thing for me. Though I had trouble remembering to take shorter showers, the act of taking a short shower wasn’t too difficult. In the future, not only would I like to continue to take showers that are as short as my showers now, but I would also like to pick up another challenge to become more sustainable. I have been considering going meatless for one or two days a week. Because I noticed that making this small change in my life didn’t negatively impact my life in any way, it is easier to decide to pick up other small challenges to begin to live a more sustainable lifestyle. I will definitely keep my reminders on my shower caddy so I will definitely continue to take shorter showers. Through the Sustainable Behavior Challenge, I’ve learned how easy it can be to change one small action in order to help live a more sustainable life, and also help the environment as a whole.