Reduce the Harm:  Changes I’ve Made

by Janet Spellman

 

 

For the reduce the harm project, I decided to do a drawing that focuses on the small changes I have made to personally reduce the harm. The top shows the before picture and the bottom shows what we have changed.

            In class we discussed the various ways to save the renewable but endangered water supply. It was surprising to hear about the current state of our declining water supply considering that this important topic rarely comes up in conversations. So, I decided to make a small change in my life that could make at least a bit of a difference over the years. I did this by switching from 30 minute showers to now averaging out at taking five minute showers. Just by switching from an eight minute shower to a five minute shower saves ‘roughly 10 gallons’ (Mylie) of water so you can imagine how much my little switch must be saving.

            Another thing we do to help the water supply is to only water the lawn when it needs it which can save around 750 gallons a month.(Water conservation) This is shown by the stick figure watering the lawn versus watering the already soaked lawn.

           Next, we try to save more electricity; and one way to do this is by turning off more unneeded lights. After all, lighting is responsible for 11 percent of homes energy (Howard) bill so it does make a difference. By using less energy, we ensure less energy will be used and thus, that less of the environment will be damaged to extract that energy.

            I doubt the last portion of my picture (the recyclable can vs. trash can) needs an outside source to explain the benefit. My family now has a higher output of recyclable materials versus garbage; which leads to less trash in landfills and more materials recycled. Although it’s not illustrated here, we do reuse materials (such as water bottles) as well as recycling; which has an obvious environmental (and monetary) benefit.

            There are several more things we do to conserve water, electricity and materials but I figured these few things should be enough to illustrate my point: make small changes in your life to reduce the harm.

 

 

Works Cited

 

Howard, Brian. "Turn Off Those Lights." the daily green. Hearst Communications. 4 Jun

 2009 <http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/energy-conservation-turn-

off-lights-460107>

 

Mylie, "Five-Minute Showers to Save Time and the Planet." PETA. 15 April 2009. PETA.

            4 Jun 2009 <http://living.peta.org/2009/five-minute-showers-to-save-time-and-

            the-planet>.

 

"Water conservation." Mono lake committee. mono lake committee . 4 Jun 2009

 <http://www.monolake.org/about/waterconservation#whatcanido>.