Change

It doesn’t matter how small the change is — it only matters that you make the effort to bring about that change.

Welcome to my blog! My name is Janelle and I am helping Trinity College and all university students like myself who reside in the college to become environmentally sustainable, more involved in community events and aware of the issues facing our community and take small steps together to make a difference in this world. Here residents can keep up to date with what events are happening in our college, local communities and the world. This year for 2011, I am taking the challenge to learn as much as i can about saving energy, conserving water, recycling, eco-friendly gardens and plantation, wildlife, issues of social justice and community programs and events. The bigger challenge which is to make environmentally friendly actions a habit and not a once off situation.

They say to create a habit such as brushing your teeth, you must carry out the action 16-21 times, you must remind yourself everyday of your new habit your creating, write yourself notes and remind yourself why you are creating this new habit. Be gradual. Similarly one usually needs to break a bad habit in order to forma a new one. Many who fail take a plunge and go cold turkey to stop the habit they want to break altogether. A better approach is to once again be gradual. For example, my first goal (I feel being female this should be the first on my list!) is to cut down my shower time and break the habit of standing in the shower with the thought I am rinsing off excess soap (which in most cases is not actually there). Or how many of us use the shower as a revitalizing place to feel the water run over your face and wash away excess emotions to feel totally refreshed once out? Well I have found I can get the same amount of soap off in less than a third of the time and revitalize with a simple splash of water in the basin just as well, or whats more sit outside for a few minutes and 'smell the roses' so to speak.

So, my first habit to break is long showers and my habit to form is short showers. My first step is to time my showers, but I am going to go further and time the showers of my family members also. Then I will experiment and race to see how quick i can have a shower and still feel as clean and refreshed as when I had longer showers. A shower can use 4 - 20 liters of water a minute depending on the shower head! So comparing my times before and after I change my habit I can calculate how much water I can save a day. Then to make shorter showers a habit, i will gradually reduce my time each day and record my showers even after I reach my goal time to ensure i continue the habit. Here is a good site:

http://www.oneminuteshower.com.au/

which tells us that showers contribute the highest of 29% of our water use. A great way to reduce this is to install water saving shower heads in the showers. This I don't think we even have at our house let alone at college. Time to go to Bunnings dad!