Roody

I just read an article by Paige Doughty on CommonDreams.org, called "To Flush or not to Flush? Battling the Social Stigmas of Environmental Action in the City." Paige sometimes feels embarrassed by her earth friendly habits, including bike commuting to work and not flushing the toilet every time she uses it. Here's an excerpt from the beginning or the story:






And here is Paige's conclusion:

deputyjones

Can't say I am embarassed at all at my cycling, but I have learned to run to the bathroom and flush the toilet when company arrives

bragi

This is kind of encouraging, actually. Sometimes I do feel that my lonely car-free gesture is a futile one, not to mention a freezing cold pain in the a**, and my friends' irritating helpful condescension towards my so-called eccentricity isn't very helpful, either. ("Why don't you just buy a Prius?") It's nice to be reminded that others have made some of the same choices I have.

Cosmoline

I'm not ashamed of my body, but the building manager is a real reactionary.

Dahon.Steve

She should just leave the helmet attached to the bicycle and buy baby wipes instead of just using nothing for her arm pits. Better yet, bring a speed stick for women.

ellenDSD

Link, please?

gwd

https://www.commondreams.org/views07/0223-28.htm

Roody

Sorry and thanks gwd

centuryman

Hooray for Paige. I also believe that change begins with the individual. I live car-light, bike or walk to work, don't flush the toilet after every use, have never owned a clothes dryer, keep thermostat at a minimum... It's encouraging to know that the entire population has not gone mad. In a recent letter to the editor in the Denver Post the writer complained that she didn't know what to do about global warming because the government had not issued any instructions - very, very sad!

deputyjones

The dryer thing is something I noticed when I was in the Netherlands. Not many people have them there. During the colder months it certainly requires some forethought (especially with a habitual jeans wearer), but it can be done. I didn't use a dryer for the 10 days I was there, but washed clothes almost every day. Good example of challenging conventional wisdom. Most people would have no idea what to do (other than drive their SUV to the laundromat) if you took away their dryer.

Pretty sad about the Denver Post writer. I guess the government hasn't provided her instructions on how to google search yet either.

Spaceman Spiff

Why doesn't someone just build a toilet that has two flush handles? A normal flush for when you take a dump, and a light flush that uses much less water for when you take a leak?

deputyjones

Actually, they had those in the Netherlands too. All "modern" tiolets were designed in this way.

LandLuger

The "doing without a dryer in the winter idea" with a family of five was a bit challenging as it took literally days to dry clothes that were simply hung up inside. When I acquired the EPA certified woodstove to heat the home all that changed. Clothes are now bone dry in hours when hung up in the far end of the room opposite the stove. Nowadays the dryer sits mostly unused.

LandLuger

I installed a Caroma in my son's bathroom last year. A water efficient toilet that actually works; who would have guessed such an animal existed.

https://www.caroma.com.au/index.html

bragi

I know this is almost off-thread, but are dryers that bad? I use a dryer all the time, and my monthly electric bills are only about $22. I'd like to think that level of energy use entitles me to have dry jeans on demand.

deputyjones

Here is a list of typical appliance energy usage:
https://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricW...appliances.htm

Same range as a refrigerator which is pretty significant, but to each his own.

Good call with the wood stove BTW LL. I might look into that in my new house. Did you buy the caroma in the US? Looked like it was only available in Australia from their website.

donrhummy

What if instead the toilet (and faucet) distilled the water and then reused it? You'd probably only need 5-10% of the water you need now (since it's ulikely to retain 100%, although your urine adds some water to the mix). Would you be afraid of showering with that water? Cleaning dishes?

LandLuger

Yes. I can't remember the supplier offhand, but if your serious I could go through my receipts and email you. The toilet is wonderful and uses .75 gallons a flush when you push the small button and 1.5 when you hit the large button. Even more important it gets the job done.

makeinu

Better yet? Why not just install big pipes underground to take all the water to a central location where it can be distilled and then released back to nature?

Honestly, I don't understand why people try to conserve water. It can be purified easily enough and, unlike air, it doesn't sneak its way into your lungs involuntarily.

Juha

Water efficient toilets are the norm around here. Earlier I seem to remember some people filled a 1,5l soda bottle with water and put it in the flush tank. And it's becoming increasingly typical to install automatic faucets in commercial establishments (faucets turn on and off automatically, manufacturers claim a 50% reduction in water consumption). The idea being that conserving water is more efficient than purification.

--J

wahoonc

Several reasons...it costs money to process water and uses harmful chemicals. Another is water that is in process (in pipes, treatment tanks, or water towers, etc) is water that is not available in the environment. Take a look at the Colorado River basin issues. The deserts of Egypt used to be a fertile green valley until they over used the water in it. (other issues involved but that was a main one)

I used to have a house with a gray water system in it. Waste water from the shower, washer and sinks was used to flush toilets and water the gardens, it was outlawed and I was made to disassemble it. We currently use under the minimum on our water bill every month. I bought the most water miserly washing machine I could find, we normally only take showers. Wash dishes by hand (that one is debatable) and don't water the grass. My gardens are square foot gardens which require minimal watering compared to a normal row garden.

Aaron

cerewa

Honestly, my first thought was that you have a natural-gas dryer. But maybe not.

gerv 

I regularly hang up my clothes to dry. In winter, this provides some extra humidity in the house so I don't need to buy a humidifier. In summer, the jeans will dry almost as quickly outdoors as in the dryer. Only problem is when a squirrel deposits a payload, but this is a fairly rare event.

makeinu

If the water can't be processed to satisfaction at treatment facilities then how could it possibly be processed to satisfaction at home using green methods? On the other hand, if the water can be processed for recycling using green methods at home, then why not implement the same techniques at the plants?

If it's good enough for me to shower and wash dishes then it's good enough for nature. After all, apart from romanticism, the only reason to care about clean water in nature is because that water may eventually find its way into personal usage (directly or indirectly).

Also, what's so bad about deserts? I find Arizona to be quite nice.

I am concerned about keeping very toxic chemicals out of the world's rivers/oceans/etc. I am not concerned about biological wastes returning to nature.

deputyjones

Yeah, no rush, but whenever you get a chance I would appreciate it. I am interested and know some other folks who would be as well. I have 2 brothers-in-law from the Netherlands who would probably consider buying one.

Thanks.