Great Green Idea: Green Living: Are You Living as Green as You Can?

Are You Living as Green as You Can?

There is nothing like getting caught in the rain to convince you that water is, and always will be plentiful. However, the world's fresh water supply is dwindling from over-use and abuse. There easily can come a time when this once plentiful resource is rare, and hard to procure in adequate amounts. There are things we can do to conserve water, and save money while doing it.

1. Taking A Shower: There is nothing more pleasing than a nice hot shower. Your old showerhead cascades gallons of hot water over your aching muscles, and you may not want to replace it. However, if you switch to water saving showerhead, you will triple the use you get out of each gallon of water.

Your old showerhead uses from 5 to 7 gallons of water per minute. The newer devices give you practically the same pleasure with only 2.5 gallons per minute. That can put a nice dent in the old water bill! Add to that the fuel you save by not using your water heater as much, and you keep a whopping 350 pounds of carbon dioxide from fouling up the atmosphere.

2. Going, Going, Gone: Are you flushing your hard earned money into the sewer system? You are if your toilet is the old fashioned kind. You know, the type that sounds like a 707 taking off when you flush. The new ultra-low flow potties can cut the average household's water use down by a hefty 20%. That's nothing to sneeze at. You can feel great about saving money while doing something to protect your children's future water supplies.

3. Don't Let It Drip You Dry: Is your house in good repair? That leaking faucet drips 2700 gallons of water per year. That's a lot of laundry you could be doing. Think of the toilet flushes and showers that are slipping needlessly down the drain. Again, think of the resources, both financial and environmental, that are wasted with every drip.

4. A Natural Drink For Your Flowers: How about watering your garden? Do you turn the hose up to full volume in the middle of the day to give your pansies a drink? If you save rainwater in a barrel, you can give your flowers a healthy free drink that they'll enjoy. If you do it in the evening, they'll get the benefit of more of it, because the sun won't be drying it up before it can soak into the ground.

There are many things you can do to live a greener life style. Our earth can be a beautiful, safe place for all of us to enjoy for years to come. However, we have to take care of what we have, and to do that, we have to learn how to use it more wisely. Fortunately, with technological advances and careful use, we can conserve lots of water with very little pain and inconvenience.