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Turning green

In the beginning

by Carlin Archer ( aka Ecoman )

At my apartment in 2005
At my apartment in 2005
I've been going through my own personal 'sustainable' journey over the past year. While I've always been interested in 'green' issues, and upset by what's being done to the natural environment I've generally been more talk than action.

Some time in 2005 I decided it was time to start walking the walk as well as talking the talk and set about taking some affirmative action on living in a more sustainable way.

My girlfriend at the time used to take every opportunity to point out how much of a hypocrite I was. She got a lot of pleasure out of lecturing me about my 'over use' of the dryer and the fact that, not only was I wasting money by using the clothes dryer on a sunny day, but that I was ruining my clothes in the process.

Once we even managed to waste a few litres of water proving how much water I was wasting letting the tap run when I was brushing my teeth. I even worked for an 'evil oil corporate' for some of my time in London in the IT department. The fact was, there was a LOT of room for improvement.

Saving water

I decided that one quick and easy way to satisfy my 'eco concience' was to start by cutting down on the amount of water I wasted on a daily basis. Here in Christchurch, New Zealand, we don't pay for the amount of water we use and for that reason we tend to take it for granted.

Actually, we enjoy some of the best drinking water in the world. The water from that comes out of our tap is as good, if not better, than most of the bottled water you can purchase.

But, even a paradise like Christchurch faces a 'treated water' future if we don't put a bit of thought into our habits.

Some of the steps I took were pretty simple, but I'd say quite effective. For a start, I stopped having the tap running while I brushed my teeth and tried to cut back on using the 'full flush' when I used the toilet. I found this usefull article on other ways to save water: How to save water.

I'm in the process now of trying to put in place as many of the measures outlined in the 'How to save water' guide as I can. I'm struggling a bit on the shorter showers front, especially on the cold Christchurch winter mornings.
 
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