i ran across this rather interesting and telling graphic… certainly something to ponder.
(ht: monte)
Related posts:
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- disposable worship.
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- night of death.
- Jesus walked on ice, not water.
Thanks for spreading this around! The others are excellent, too, at Drinkup.
Monte
i didn’t realize there were more! thanks for the link monte, great stuff!
Wow, that is a shocking and troubling stat, but unfortunately not terribly surprising. My questions is…should I feel guilty now about flushing the toilet?
BTW – congrats on your decision.
yes, we should all now feel guilty for flushing the toilet!
i was amazed that this stat was for a low-flow toilet!
maybe that kevin costner movie “waterworld” will actually come to fruition at some point and we’ll have to run our pee through special machines in order to have some clean drinking water…
Those low-flow toilets suck. Why does everything that is environmentally savvy have to suck? I guess that is similar to the question – why does everything that is good for me have to taste like crap or worse (broccoli)? I mean, why can’t they discover that ice cream prevents heart attacks? Is that really too much to ask?
Speaking of sucking – a Waterworld reference. Bear Grylls taught me that I don’t need a purifying machine – I can drink my urine directly if I can tolerate the warm saltiness and the knowledge that I’m drinking piss.
Actually, lots of low-flow toilets don’t suck (or rather, do, depending on how you look at it). We’re just late in the game in the US because we’re so dogmatic about private enterprise solving everything. Consider this one from Australia (about which a Aussie friend of mine wrote that she figured everyone had one by now): Want to change the world? Flush green!
It’s a very wrong stat, too. Water usage is not a need versus greed issue, it is one that is provided for mostly through the market, having little to do with ideas like abuse or overconsumption.
Mozambique has a water problem first and foremost because there is no incentive for entrepreneurs or the market to provide water services. For most of the 1970s-1990s, Mozambique’s government had a loose money supply, creating hyperinflation and a disincentive to save and invest. This is similar to what the U.S. is going through now, but at a much higher level. It was only when the money supply was restricted that the incentive to provide “need” services was promoted, and in the past 10 years we’re seeing great leaps in what consumers can get in Mozambique. The downside is that the provincial political system in Mozambique is still very much a cronyist system, with many consumer services provided for in a socialist/State-controlled environment.
The U.S. water supply system is also para-socialist, controlled usually by local townships. That’s a negative, but the positive side is that we at least have control at the local level, and a huge competitive market in bottled water and secondary water providers straight to the home and office.
Without a market incentive for entrepreneurs to invest, you’ll always have shortages. With a market incentive for entrepreneurs to invest, you’ll have excess — that’s the benefit of living in a free society, for as long as you can keep it free.
Some good points, Dada. Why is it that when we look at problems in the world our knee-jerk reaction is now to assume that it is America’s fault?
Some good points, Dada. Why is it that when we look at problems in the world our knee-jerk reaction is now to assume that it is America’s fault?
It doesn’t surprise me because even “we” (as a very large group of individuals) tend to forget WHY so many countries have these problems. It isn’t a lack of desire for the individuals to better their lives, but often a lack of opportunity. That lack of opportunity comes from the lack of freedom — inherent rights granted to every human by God the Creator.
One of the reasons I take on such an anti-State stance is because I have witnessed, first-hand, provinces around the world that bloomed when the State backed off — without the arms of the Church wrapping around the people who freed themselves from tyranny. Shanghai amazes me, as does Dubai — two provinces with little effect by the Church as a whole. I see Christ’s teachings as promoting the ability of the individual to provide for themselves (using God’s gifts of talents) in the face of massive oppression or opposition.
Oh, FWIW, I hate low-flow toilets, too. In previous houses, I always “broke the law” and bought a high-flow toilet. In Illinois, we have an excellent black market for illegal products for the home, refurbished to work better than new. If there truly was a water shortage, the price would go up significantly, and people would only then make decisions to try to save money by restricting the use of the undersupplied product. Why do recycled goods cost more? Because more energy is wasted making them — giving us an environmental loss, not a gain.
Anyone read how walking is worse for the environment than driving? Or that taking the train is also worse?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2195538.ece
Great article A.B.! What a kick… Maybe I’ll just stay home today and take a long nap and try not to breath too much… or go to the bathroom. : )
Great article A.B.! What a kick… Maybe I’ll just stay home today and take a long nap and try not to breath too much… or go to the bathroom. : )
Haha, Mike. My wife is a bit of a libertarian-greenie, so when she’s home, I flush twice.