Why It’s Time to Un-Potty-Train Ourselves

Toilets waste massive amounts of water and essential nutrients that could be used in place of chemical fertilzers

 

An article in I F**king Love Science encourages people to pee in their showers to save water and the planet “just a little bit.”

They calculate the average American uses around 4000 gallons of water flushing pee down the toilet per year, peeing an average of 7 times per day.

By peeing in the shower once a day, we could reduce our pee flushes to six per day, saving over 500 gallons of water per person per year, they reason.

If every American did this, we’d save a whopping 185 billion gallons of water per year, they say.

Considering we are facing a worldwide water crisis, it sounds like a great idea. And for some, it’s a great start, so I’m hesitant to knock it. But I’m going to go ahead and suggest we can do a lot better.

First of all, why, if we are facing a global water shortage, is anyone taking a shower every day?

I know some of my old friends think I’m a crazy hippie whose gone off the deep end, but this is entirely unnecessary and counterproductive.

Unless you’re working a high-stress job, you shouldn’t smell that bad. Just grab or make some all-natural deodorant and try to relax. Showering everyday dries out your skin and your hair and makes you produce more oils to make up for it. With this awesome castile shampoo bar, I shower twice a week at the most and my hair is never oily or dry.

Secondly, you could reduce your toilet flushes to say three per day, by just not flushing every time you pee. My dad was a conservationist way back in the 80s and taught us “if it’s yellow, let it mellow … if it’s brown, flush it down.”

Third, if you’re lucky enough to work from home like I do, pee in the yard for God sake! It not only saves water, it fertilizes your plants!

Urine contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium — essential plant nutrients that are usually mined from the earth or the air for agricultural use.

There’s a big opportunity here for stay-at-home moms and dads. Here in Asheville, North Carolina, we have diaperless babies running around all over the place, fertilizing our gardens and greening our forests, while keeping diapers out of landfills and the wash.

Fourth, if you want to get really wild, you can save even more water by not flushing your poop. Composting toilets and humanure are slowly but surely becoming a thing. Again, you’re not only saving water, you’re creating your own fertilizer, instead of buying synthetic garbage made from petroleum byproducts.

Maybe one day we can get rid of sewer treatment plants altogether and grow our own paradise gardens like this!