THE COURTESY FLUSH AS METAPHOR #foodforthought #sustainability

Ok, so that title probably got your attention. And, yes, you can put this in the “random observations” category, but… As of late I’ve been struck more and more about the truly finite nature of earth’s resources: fossil fuels and water being two of the biggest. Both of them being resources that we are making poor use of and consuming or destroying at an astonishingly unsustainable rate.

I’ve been increasingly educated about the absolutely reprehensible absurdity of Hydrofracking and the increasing realization that our supply of clean water – both locally and worldwide – is under constant threat and increasingly being decimated. And so, the other day in a restroom, overhearing someone’s “courtesy flush”, I thought, “gee, can we really afford that sort of luxury anymore?”

Seriously. Pause for a second and think about the fact that it’s somewhat normal in our Western culture to waste gallons of water simply so that someone else doesn’t have to smell our “aroma”… when many others on our planet are dying from lack of access to clean water. What does that say about the vanity and wastefulness of our culture?

As someone who spends a fair amount of time outdoors in the woods and open water, I see firsthand the increasingly detrimental effects that our habits are having on our limited natural resources. Open your eyes, folks. We, as a planet, are simply running out of resources like clean water when at the same time the human population is exploding and we are consuming more fossil fuels than ever before. I don’t care whether you’re a hippie or an oil tycoon, that equation is simply unsustainable from whatever angle you look at it. And if not for us than certainly for our kids.

So the reality is this: the simple, little choices we make day-to-day matter. Should you recycle that cardboard toilet paper roll or toss it in the trash? “It’s small, how much space can it really take up in a landfill?” In a growing world of finite resources, we cannot continue to think this way.

Sad that a toilet had to drive that point home for me…