Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Techly, an online publication aimed at Millennials, has advised its audience to save the world by peeing while taking a shower.
Worried about climate change? Do something about it and start peeing in the shower
According to science, you could actively help to save the planet by peeing in the shower. And we have Colbert to back us up.
It’s all about reducing the times you flush. The average flush of a modern toilet takes about six litres of water, and the average adult pees about seven times every day. I suspect that number rises during Oktoberfest, but you get the general idea.
The point is, you’re using 42 litres of water every single day just to flush your pee. Multiply that by however many adults on the planet use a toilet every day and you get a very worrying scenario.
…
Read more: https://www.techly.com.au/2017/12/06/worried-climate-change-something-start-peeing-shower/
The Techly article includes a Brazilian Government video which provides the same advice;
I can’t fault their logic. If you think wasting water is damaging the planet, not flushing up to 15,000 litres every year is a substantial saving.
Skeptics might be concerned that any water saving would be mitigated by confused parents furiously cleansing suddenly very smelly shower cubicles, but it seems unlikely most Millennials would take this possibility into consideration.
Or you could build yourself a re-cycle greenhouse like this rest area on I-91 N in Sharon VT. An amazing place.
https://youtu.be/mzBQ16aMzow
Meanwhile back on planet Earth, saving or wasting water has absolutely nothing to do with climate change, and farck-all about “saving the planet”. Greeny delusions sometimes get very weird. Creepy, even.
But the creepy ones need the most public exposure to dilute and diminish the messengers and the message.
How many liters are wasted standing there peeing in the shower? It’s not like people are going to multi-task and shampoo their hair as they pee.
There are common-sense means to conserve water, and this one is iffy.
And conserving household water use has NO impact on “climate change.” What idiots.
The idea is to pee when you have a shower, not have a shower every time you need to pee! Most people probably do both first thing in the morning, so it makes sense. I do it to save water which I would have to buy (and because I’m lazy).
The water at my house runs too cold to stand under the water until it warms up. I stand just outside the spray… and spray. I run out long before the water gets warm. This option may disappear when I install a tank-less water heater nest to the shower.
This has been a funny thread. I didn’t realize so many people here had a sense of humor (albeit potty humor). Had to read some of the comments to my wife.
Thanks for the laughs to Eric – and the commenters!
Is peeing in the sink a good idea?
https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1gd6do/i_think_that_peeing_in_the_sink_to_save_water_is/
All this “water saving” advice… guess when we flush, the water just disappears off the planet, lost forever… and here I thought that adding relatively clean water to the sewage system would actually benefit the waster water treatment facility.
Disclosure: we do follow the “yellow let it mellow, brown flush it down” mantra… keeps our monthly water bill reasonable.
In the case of septic systems, the water eventually winds up in the water table, available for use again.
With septic tanks, insufficient water turns the tank into a brick, too much water floods the leach field and creates a swamp. People on septic tanks either learn about proper water usage quickly or pay out a lot of money for repairs.
It doesn’t take long, and our water is in the garden where it would have been if not captured from our roof. It’s just handy to keep it in a tank for the times it doesn’t rain (sometimes months).
It’s just a microcosm of the way cities work, in fact.
The most entertaining string of posts I’ve seen in a long time. Millennial Green-Yellow warriors are soooo, funny!
I don’t want to break any bubbles here, but in The Netherlands water companies add water, because people do not flush enough. To much pee per liter of water.
Just flush the damn toilet when you had a go.
This whole issue depends on where you live and on the source of your fresh water.
On our boat, we live on collected rain water and tanks of water filled from marina supplies, sometimes by dragging 5 gallon jerry cans of fresh water out to the boat by dinghy.
Toilets are flushed with raw water (whatever the boat is floating in — salt, brackish, fresh).
At out home (yes, I have a home now — part of one anyway) in the Central Hudson Valley of New York, our water comes from a stream-filled reservoir which has never run dry, always water over the dam, even in drought years. What water doesn’t go into the municipal supply flows into the Hudson River. What goes into the municipal supply comes out our faucets, goes down the drain, goes through the water treatment plant that sits at the bottom of our hill and flows out into the Hudson River. The same is true for the toilets.
There is no “wasted” water — it gets diverted, used for some purpose and put back where it belongs — in the river.
I suppose some might be used to water the garden — then is settles into the water table and then flows into the Hudson River — some evaporates into the air and falls as rain and then flows into the Hudson River.
The situation was entirely different in my childhood home in Los Angeles, California, which in the dry Mediterranean climate of Southern California. The lack of reservoirs in the LA Basin itself means that the occasional torrential rains all flow into the massive storm drain system and out into the Pacific Ocean. Dependable fresh water has to be imported from far away mountains in aqueducts. In LA, most of the available fresh water is wasted on frivolous things like lawns, golf courses, car washes, swimming pools, etc.
Installation of a nuclear power plant to make electricity would also provide heat for desalinating the ocean water to supply LA with fresh water.
So many of the radical green agenda points depend on where you are.
Depends on where you live, I guess. In Kalifornia, very little planning for the future is done. Admittedly, we are building a bullet train (which will be the slowest bullet train in the world, between WhoGivesA$#!t and WhereThe%^&*IsThat. But we don’t bother with maintaining dams (Oroville) until they break, we build windmills and sun power plants (because we can always buy power from other states), we don’t trim the forests like we did to limit forest fires, and we don’t build reservoirs because that would detract from the Sierra Club’s range. So, we learned how to conserve water, with the help of tiered pricing, and later, because we learned so well, and demand dropped so much, additional increases to cover lower distribution inefficiencies. Lawns and trees died. People complained. So we built desalination plants (Sierra Club doesn’t go to the beach, thank God). They’re sitting idle starting with the year they were ready to go on-line, because of all the flooding.
I’ve said “We”, but Hallelujah, as of May I am no longer a Kalifornian!
Now if we could only build a wall between Kalifornia and Nevada. Hm. I need to fire off a letter to Trump. He’ll understand.
From the article: “I can’t fault their logic. If you think wasting water is damaging the planet, not flushing up to 15,000 litres every year is a substantial saving.”
Yeah, but by substituting seven trips to the toilet, with taking seven showers a day, you would use even more water. I don’t see how this helps. 🙂
The aptly named former Australian senator Larissa Waters proposed that a law be passed forcing people to take a shower when they have the urge. I wrote her a polite note asking how much water she would propose to use in the shower instead of the toilet, and since the dams are full where she intended to ‘save’ this water? Being a Green, she did not know how to respond.
Another great way to save water (and save the planet too, win-win), is to skip the shower altogether; wait until the sprinkler is on, or turn it on to get the grass watered, lather up, then run through the sprinkler. Of course it’ll be cold, and of course you’ll holler, that’s part of the fun. For even more fun, invite the neighbors too.
Who says “saving the planet” can’t be fun?
Place I work at went whole-hog on water savings some ten, fifteen years back. Waterless urinals, low-flow automatic toilet flushers, motion-activated faucets…
They replaced the waterless urinals about six months ago, along with a fair bit of the plumbing downstream from them. They got rid of the motion-activated faucets about two years back. As the auto-flushers go bad, they’re replaced with regular flushing mechanisms.
And the maintenance folk out here have removed pretty much all the flow limiters in the faucets. Admittedly, our plumbing is rather… ancient, but it WAS designed to work around a certain volume of water daily. And there’s a lot fewer people employed here than when it was made over 45 years ago.
If you don’t get a proper throughput, apparently plumbing systems develop problems. Who knew?
I laugh at these save water save the planet idiots. I just ask them where does the water go when you flush, etc. They usually know and admit it goes into the sewer system. Then i ask, does it disappear there? They admit it comes out the other end clean and returns to nature and some evaporated.. I use that to explain by flushing they are helping to recycle. We pay for our water and sanitation systems and some energy is used to clean and deliver and remove and reclean our water. That is part of the price of living in a modern civilization. Unless it’s dumped into a deep underground fault all our water recycles infinitely.
How does this action “save” the chimate? We have always had some sort of climate and we always will no matter what we do.
It won’t make your shower smelly. If you pee on your feet, you can also get rid of athlete’s foot, btw.
I do this, but I don’t save water for the planet’s sake, I do it for my wallet because we don’t have mains water.
Madonna believes in pee as a treatment for athlete’s foot. Do you believe Madonna knows anything about medicine? Hint: There’s a reason people don’t call her “Dr. Madonna.”
Umm, sounds like Climate Science ™ logic:
I believe something.
Madonna believes something.
Ergo sum I believe Madonna is an expert doctor?
No. I believe it because I’ve done it and twice killed of athlete’s foot that normal powders wouldn’t budge (from days of going to public gyms, no more thank the gods).
The average pH of the ocean at the surface varies around about 8.1, (7.0 = neutral) which makes the ocean rather basic not acidic; Peeing in the oceans is not going to make any measurable difference to the fish. Water is part of a great recycling system that keeps the Earth functioning.
A friends father once said “You know what class is? Climbing out of the shower to take a pee, now that’s class.” That got me thinking. And many people do get out just to pee,
I’m a bit surprised no one has mentioned you don’t need to pee in the shower (though I do) to avoid flushing. I never pee in the toilet (unless I’m more than just peeing.) I pee into a plastic 16-oz Gatorade bottle I keep near the bathroom sink, dump it down the sink, run about 1/4 cup of water into the bottle, swish it around, dump again, then run about a cup of water into the sink to rinse it as well.
Wow! And I thought Kalifornia was bad. You should mention what desert you’re from, buddy, when you tell these stories. I know you’re not from downtown L.A.
Just don’t pee in the pool!
That sounds seriously nasty. Why don’t you just pee in the sink? Oh wait, we have a toilet for that! Sheesh! There is a reason we had outhouses once!
Peeing in the sink splatters outside the sink. Urine all around to wipe up. Side benefit to the bottle: I can monitor the quantity of urine. I never knew until now just how much my aging bladder can store up while sleeping without discomfort.
This sounds like a ‘golden’ opportunity to save the planet!
I’d heard a long time ago that the cure for poison ivy was to pee on it. (Something about the body producing natural antihistamines that are in the pee.)
Never been desperate enough to try it.
I also remember hearing that the cure for athletes foot was to wiggle you toes in fresh cow manure. (Critters in the manure feeding on the critters that causes athletes foot.)
Again, never been desperate enough to try it.
(Also, not many cows in my neighborhood. 😎
I grew up on a farm. There were far better reasons to wiggle your toes in cow manure – it just feels good squishing up between your toes! Admittedly, I preferred waiting until it was no longer warm. Summer time, the coolness was delightful! (Cow manure is the only manure that works this way.)
Grandma never let me in the house until I washed my feet. I didn’t completely understand that then. After all, it had already worn off the bottom of my feet before I got to the house.
Strange, I wouldn’t even think of doing that now, 50-60 years later.
That’s pretty unusual to say the least. I grew up next to a farm, and never once had that urge.
I have done it here in Oz, the mango season is also the wet season, and cows next door like to shelter under the best mango tree around. The 10cm of manure below it may be the main reason it’s the best. So I’ve been ankle deep in it picking mangoes, and have no problem, but to do it voluntarily for no reason seems a bit strange!
“Jer0me December 7, 2017 at 4:20 pm
That’s pretty unusual to say the least.”
Some remote tribes in Africa encourage such activity, even to the point where parents smear it over their children. Believe it or not It bolsters their immune system.
Sounds like the “cure” for jellyfish stings. Hey, it worked on “Friends”.
Wife: “I just got stung by a jellyfish! Quick, pee on it!”
Husband: *peeing on jellyfish*” Take that! That’s for stinging my wife!”
Fortunately we have little bollards with green crosses at the edge of beaches in the Australian tropics. I wondered what they were. Turns out they are full of bottles of vinegar. Australians are wonderful people!
“Jer0me December 7, 2017 at 4:25 pm
Turns out they are full of bottles of vinegar.”
Surely that would be something containing enough ammonia to do the job? Never heard of vinegar dealing with stings.
“Australians are wonderful people!”
Except politicians like Turnbull who sold us down the ETS river.
Vinegar seems to be the best treatment for box jellyfish stings.
As for aussies, please don’t judge ’em by the politicians. FFS, Aboot has publicly chomped on unpeeled raw onions three times now, and he was pm.
Nothing about Australian politicians gives me any confidence at all since Howard, and I never ever thought I’d hold him in high regard. I despair, but I can’t see any national leader these days I’d want running my household expenses, let alone a country.
It probably helps poison ivy because it’s acidic, like it helps jellyfish stings.
As a kid in the country we used to rub dock leaves on stinging nettle stings. I wonder if peeing on it would’ve been better? Dock leaves were probably more hygienic, though…
I am going to go do a load of laundry consisting of one tee shirt, then run the dishwasher only 1/4 full, while I let the shower run while I brush my teeath at the sink, also with water running the whole time.
Then, just to make sure the shower is plenty steamy enough, I will go put on a kettle of water for my tea, making sure to empty the water from the kettle first for no reason at all.
Then I am going to turn on my sprinklers even though it is going to rain tonight and tomorrow.
What was this article about?
I was too busy wasting water to read it.
For good reason imo. Twice-boiled water makes worse tea. It’s something to do with the oxygen content I’m told. Boiling redues it each time. This is also why you should turn off the kettle just before it boils for the best tea.
I like my tea.
I find myself skeptical of that twice boiled water reduces oxygen more and more each time.
I would wager that by the time water is boiled, it has the same O2 as it is going to have each subsequent time.
But I am guessing, although I would make that bet anyway.
However…my water comes from a well on my property…how much oxygen is in it to begin with?
BTW…I like my tea as well.
Anyone who likes tea is OK in my book.
I understand there’s quite a bit in water. Fish kinda need it 🙂
You may be right about boiling it once removes most oxygen, which is why the advice is not to let it boil.
Try tasting before & after a good boil, the water tastes different. Tip: let it cool first! 🙂
As for tea, a good darjeeling with a dash of honey & some lemon. Mmmmmmm… Nice cold on a hot day, and cold brewed in the fridge overnight, too.
Is all your water metered? What’s you monthly water bill?
My water comes from the sky.
When it doesn’t, I have to pay for tankers of it. I could pump it from a bore, but it’s way more in electricity these days tgan a tanker, or even being on the mains (go figure, eh).
Almost every state in the US has rivers running to the ocean and dumping millions of gallons an hour into the sea, unused.
Every year there are numerous floods during which more water is flushed into the ocean that the whole country uses in a year.
We live on the frickin’ PLANET water!
Who are these numbskulls who think we will “run out of water”?
Approx only 1% of all water on this rock is fresh and naturally occurring. If you look at all the great civilisations that rose and fell, Incas and Romans for instance, they relied on collecting, moving and storing vast amounts of fresh water.
The low flush toilets have become a great boon to plumbers. They result in plugged drain lines which usually requires a plumber.
I did my own plumbing so I gave the drain lines double the required slope and have had no problem with clogging.
My plumber told me pouring a gallon of 5% acidic white vinegar down the tub drain every month would keep tree roots from choking the sewer line. Two years so far.
Too much slope will cause the liquid to run ahead of the solids causing clogs. The issue becomes how much is too much.
Some student at East Anglia Uni got themselves n local news with this suggestion a few years ago. 🙂 🙂
Well it’s a lot less wasteful than you think to flush. The same water gets re-used many times. For the xample if you live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, your pee flush gets reused in Toronto, Montreal and hundreds of communities on both sides of the border along the St Lawrence Seaway. Minneapolis? Same deal along the Mississippi! Happy drinking!
It was done before in 2014 : at UEA home of Climategate
https://twitter.com/ellenday27/status/535630160267997185