Yup, I've been ridiculously wasteful recently. And I'm going to play the blame game, too.
When I first moved into my off-campus house 3 years ago, I was living with two very eco-friendly roommates, and they were such a great influence on me when it came to being wasteful. We had several house meetings where we discussed using as little energy in the house as we could manage, such as only running the air conditioning or heat whenever it was crucial and not to leave it running constantly. We used the dishes and took turns washing them, saving water in the process.
But now... I have different roommates... and my eco-friendly ways have taken a back seat to some other lifestyle choices I've made this semester.
When these roommates moved in last semester, I hadn't changed much. I was still aware of how much energy the house used and I washed my dishes. But one roommate in particular always accused me of leaving a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, when the culprit was actually his fraternity brother (another roommate) whom he always stuck up for. I got so fed up with it that I stopped using dishes completely and converted to paper plates, plastic cups, and even plastic silverware. That is so much more waste than I used to produce and my roommates would have a stroke if they found out what I've been doing.
Every morning, I fix a breakfast drink in a disposable plastic water bottle (which I drank the water out of the day before, most likely). I used to rinse out the water bottle when I was done and throw it in a second trash can which I bought for the kitchen specifically to be used for recycling. But these roommates have been using both trash cans for garbage, so I've gotten to the point where I just throw away the water bottles when I'm done.
Then for lunch, I'll waste a paper plate, a plastic cup, and about two plastic utensils. Same with dinner. Probably also a to-go-box from Margarita's.
So daily, that's 1 water bottle (used twice), two paper plates, two plastic cups, and 4 to 6 plastic utensils that all gets thrown away. DAILY.
Then a twenty minute shower on top of that. Wasteful.
In a year, that would be 365 water bottles, 730 paper plates and plastic cups, 1460 to 2190 pieces of plastic silverware THROWN AWAY if I did this routine every day.
And assuming my showerhead uses 5 gallons per minute (considering it is an old house), that is 36,500 gallons of water used per year for showering alone. Not to mention brushing teeth, washing hands (which I do a lot, having pets and all), and flushing a toilet.
Basically, I'm really wasteful. But instead of trying to do better, my priority has shifted to avoiding my roommates at all possible costs, therefore avoiding the kitchen as much as possible too. I've even put a mini-fridge in my room so I don't have to share with them. More electricity being used there.
But I keep telling myself that once I'm married (2 years to go!), we will be so much more energy efficient and so much less wasteful that it will make up for my lack of eco-friendliness this past year.
Plus I'm kicking out these roommates soon, so things could change sooner than I think :)
I think in comparison to the rest of the world, I'm currently probably a little above average when it comes to being wasteful. At least other students on campus with a meal plan don't use paper products as much as I do, and people with their own homes and apartments probably don't avoid their kitchens as much as I do. So I'm sure I'm more wasteful than the general public these days. Oopsies.
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