This week I am diverging from politics to continue with the theme of waste. I could of course come up with many apt toilet metaphors for politics, but I will spare you.
For the holiday break (yes I work at a University and actually got a two week break), I went home to Florida and spent part of the time staying with my folks. My parents home, built when I was in utero, is as old as I am. About 7 years ago there was a fire which left the structure intact but led to the replacement of everything else. Because of this it has more up to date insulation, wiring, HVAC, etc than most 30 year old homes. The plumbing though is still original.
After the fire, my parents installed new 1.6 gallons per flush toilets, which combined with old and poorly installed plumbing in places, has created a clogging machine in the guest bathroom. This toilet will clog every time if spartan toilet paper management techniques are not employed. It is so bad my wife refuses to use it no matter what.
The upside is and the point to this post (took me a while huh) is that this toilet forces the user to use a lot less paper. This is not scientific and I assure you no actual measurements were taken, but I think I cut my tp use by about 90%. This dramatic improvement was not at the expense of good hygiene, it just took a little conscious thought.
Of course now that I'm home and using a "properly" working toilet, I am back to my old wasteful ways. Sure I try to remember what my parents clogging toilet taught me, but I often forget. This is where businesses come in. I as a consumer want to use and purchase things that are designed to limit my stupid mindless wastefulness. Let's face it, the world is too complex and we are too busy to ALL do the right thing. I am one of the ones who try and I still am an uber waster. Government needs to regulate wasteful behavior and business needs to provide affordable and effective solutions. This is the answer, expecting people to do it out of the good of their hearts is not.
(On a side note, I stole this picture from the Treehugger blog and read this old but interesting article on how archaic and dangerous water based waste removal systems are. Makes you rethink the worst green product ever as posted by Mike way back.)
7 comments:
Okay, give me a second to erase from my memory the thought of my friends being on the "throne"....okay, much better. Back to the discussion at hand.
I'm all for government exercising leadership, but regulation is a tricky thing. In a business, if you set goals and don't provide further leadership, more than likely your management team will game the system in order to make the numbers. Same thing for government standards and regulations. Obviously, some regulations are good (I don't want the FAA to stop inspecting airplane maintenance logs, do you?). But, this kind of government involvement only gets you so far.
You also need a government that leads by example. Obama has made "greening" government buildings a priority. Not only does this provide a good example for businesses to follow, it also creates scale in the green remodeling industry because of the sheer number of buildings involved with the Federal Government.
Of course, the ultimate responsibility lies with the companies that provide our products and services and us consumers who purchase those products and services. Government can show us the way, but companies have to provide more efficient products and services and we have to be willing and able to use them.
Sorry for the mental trauma, but inspiration sometimes comes from unexpected sources.
I agree, and perhaps I did not emphasize it enough, that consumers and businesses are the primarily agents in reducing waste. That said, I do think that regulation can go a long way if it is properly enforced.
As for Obama, this is another of his many commitments to green. If he only does 10% of what he has said, then he will be the greenest president yet.
And to think it only took this long for toilet humor to be the focal point of this blog.
@ Mike - Government can lead by example, enact policies and regulation, but change will only occur when it benefits businesses' bottom lines. We all know this, but if waste is cheap, businesses will continue to be wasteful.
@ Trev- Yes, the perception that waste is cheap is a problem. Government can do some things like tax carbon and penalize unsustainable business practices to make the true cost of waste visible. Many companies are starting to see the writing on the wall, so they're getting ahead of the government. Also, many companies are beginning to see that they can improve their cost structure by operating in a more sustainable manner. This helps from the operating side, but consumers must change their buying habits to reflect personal sustainable lifestyle habits if the products are going to become green. If people don't care about how much TP they use, TP manufacturers are gonna have hard time selling them.
I predict companies are going to get efficient in their operations, but will continue to sell non-green products until the recession ends and people are willing to rethink their buying habits.
Everyone should just switch to wet wipes. Two and your done. No questions asked.
Wise words from all, especially Pat.
Matt's wife wishes to thank her brother-in-law, who lives only a few doors down from defunct aforementioned toilet, who allowed her to waste all the paper she desired in his proper functioning toilet.
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