The great eco debate now entering bathrooms

Qvaio

You’ve donned your finest designer suit for an important job interview. But you stink. Because you care about the environment.

Knowlton Thomas

‘ik world a decade ago was not the
same as it is today. Technology,
culture, business—it has all
changed, and rapidly so. Perhaps, above
all, the biggest global shift has come in
the way we as humans view our world.

In this new era, a global fundamental
focus is “living green.” This concept
is simple, with a premise consisting of
carbon neutral businesses, eco-friendly
products and services, and home living
| with an emphasis on sustainability.

i This sudden care for the environment

| is an extremity that has resulted from

' unfounded scientific claims, countered
» with unfounded scientific rebuttals, and
, sent through that loop a hundred times

| over. :

But in the end, it doesn’t really
matter whether or not climate change is
manmade. Green living promotes a sense
of sustainability that can benefit the earth
| regardless of whether we are triggering
global warming. People just gush over
businesses that make honest efforts to
“go green,” and that’s a great motivator
' for the developed world to take action
| and rethink how its current manners of
| functioning may be damaging the planet.
But then you get to the point where
people are insulting one another for not
being green; where relationships are
ending because of a date at a restaurant
that has menus made from— a warning
for the faint of heart —new material.

Yes indeed, people have become overtly
obsessive with minimizing their carbon

- footprint, and one must wonder when a

| new disorder will arise: Obsessive Eco-

Friendly Disorder.

Well, for the OEFD victim, I have
decided to go out and solve the great eco
__ debate: do you divorce your wife because
) she takes baths, or does she dump you
because you shower? One must surely be
worse for the environment, so let’s find
out which Mother Nature prefers.

There are several factors that can
determine the outcome of these two
super heavyweights going at it in the ring
of environmental consciousness. First,
let’s talk tub. You must look at the size
of your bathtub. A bigger bathtub will
obviously be able to hold more water
and therefore be less eco-friendly. But of
course, you can fill it only partially and

save dozens of litres. When looking at the
eco-friendliness of tubs, it also matters if
you’re fat. Or tall. The size of your body
creates water displacement, meaning a
larger adult requires much less water to
fill the tub than a slender child.

This is not a commonly analyzed
factor, yet its importance is profound.
Many statistics pit showers against baths
and claim baths hold x litres of water,

a number considerably more than an
“average” shower uses (which we’ll get to
in a moment), and thus showers are better.
But watch out, as these “facts” seldom
take into consideration that nobody fills
baths to the very top and that human
bodies do displace water.

Still, showers are generally
considered more efficient. With showers,
it’s all about two things: flow restrictors,
or “low flow” showerheads, and the
length of the shower. When taking a bath,
the amount of water used is static based
on how much you fill the tub and how
much water you displace. When taking a
shower, your showerhead and how long
you let water flow for determine the waste
caused.

Typical showerheads use 20 litres
of water per minute. Typical household
baths can hold over 200 litres of water,
but with displacement and normal water
height, generally hold 110 to 170 litres.
This means that a ten-minute shower
will use more water than virtually any
bath, and almost everyone is guilty of
a long shower every now and again. In
fact, many people proclaim their love
for showers twice and even thrice that
length—and these cleansing methods
can consume a week’s worth of cleaning
water.

Flow-restricted showerheads cut
water usage in half, and make showers
rather indisputably the more eco-friendly
choice. If you don’t have one of these
installed, I would suggest doing so (if you
care for the environment, that is). And if
you take excessively long showers, be
they low flow or not, I would suggest
limiting showers to five minutes or less
when possible.

And don’t forget that sometimes a
bath is more than a cleanse. Sometimes
it’s hydrotherapy. And sometimes a
shower is a chance to belt out your
favourite tune without facing a backlash
of criticism.

Stay green, stay clean, and stay sane.

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