4 minutes under the shower

Andrea Varga-Darabos 4 minutes under the shower 08 July 2016 | 3 minute reading time

Do you love spending a long time soaking in the bathtub? Do you tend to let water out at full blast for 15 minutes when you take a shower? That indulgence not only harms your skin – it’s also a risk for Earth’s water supply. Beyond chemical-based cosmetics, too frequent and too long showers and bathing are also responsible for dry skin. If you are suffering from eczema or other chronic skin conditions, washing off the skin’s the natural, oily protection layer is a bad a idea.

Climate scientists claim that this summer is unusually hot – which is hardly surprising as the first 6 months of 2015 already produced higher-than-ever
average temperatures worldwide.

More and more people realise that the most severe and most imminent threats facing mankind today are climate change and the ensuing shortage of food and drinking water – a crisis that could directly affect up to a third of our planet’s population in less than 10 years.

Have you ever wondered how senseless it is to irrigate the garden and flush the toilet with drinking water? Allowing water that drains through the sink and the bathtub to flow directly into the toilet’s water tank through a cleaning filter would cut water consumption in the average household by a third.

These solutions are poised to become more widespread in the future. Until then, here are 5 tricks and tweaks can help you do your best for the future of the planet:

1. Consume less animal source food. If you prefer well-defined goals then follow our example and join the Meet Free Monday movement – and lose meat completely one day a week.

2. Drink tap water, make tea – cut down on bottled water and soft drinks as much as you can. Drop empty bottles into the recycling bin.

3. Don’t let water flow constantly when you’re brush your teeth or do the washing up. Use a glass when cleaning your teeth and have a water-saving filter fitted on your tap and shower head.

4. If your tap is dripping or your toilet tank is leaking – have them repaired as soon as possible as several litres of water may be lost that way every day. Switch to a water-efficient toilet tank and reduce the amount of water in it by placing some bigger pebbles (or a bottle filled with water) in the tank.

5. Water your plants (indoors and in the garden) late in the evening or at dawn. In those cooler hours plants absorb and use water more efficiently and the earth tends to dry slower too. It’s best to use collected rain water for that purpose.