In Irish Encounter, Ellen’s daughter, Olivia, leads her family to conserve water by catching run off cold water. This plot point is a real chapter straight from the Dougherty household.
During our 2007 home exchange, I noticed several going-green practices in Ireland. The Irish were much more advanced than we were when it came to recycling, reusing, and conserving energy.
For example, they were ahead of the game when it came to plastic grocery bags. Customers brought their own shopping bags. If they forgot, they had to buy the plastic ones while the cashier frowned down on them. Here’s a bag we bought, used, and brought back with us.
After we returned home, groceries here began pushing the bring-your-own-shopping-bags idea, and I was happy to sew my own using saved out-grown jeans!
I also noticed the attachments on our Irish showers—a little box that held an important red button. By pressing that button, you could have immediate hot water.
How many gallons of cold water gushed down our drain while we waited for the perfect shower temperature? We had to quit wasting so much water.
I started cutting the tops off of used gallon milk jugs. When all six of us lived here full time, we guzzled two or three gallons per week. I left them in the laundry room with instructions to take empty jugs to the shower, catch the cold water while waiting for the hot, and bring the filled jugs back to the laundry room after the shower. I used the caught water in the loads and loads of laundry my family created every week.
To my surprise and delight, everyone played along. It probably helped that our laundry room is upstairs near the bathrooms, but we also catch the water in the kitchen and use it to water our house plants.
Here’s a picture of our modified milk jugs:
We use them till they start to leak. Then they go to the recycling bin.
What kind of green activities do you do in your home?
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