When spending my time in the eco-village in Cloughjordan, I became conscious of just how much water is a crucial component to our everyday lives. We bathe with it, drink it, and use it for washing things and before this trip I took water for granted. Most people are used to taking excessive showers at home and just enjoying the luxury of a long, hot shower. In America, it is commonly seen that we sometimes forget to turn the faucet off when brushing teeth or washing your face and hands. People in America tend to pour perfectly good water down the drain and wasting water multiple times a day. I never realized how thankful I was for water until now.
Our first stop on the trip was the eco-village. The eco-village is very impressive with their conservation efforts and water preservation acts. In the hostel and community, the whole village does its best to reduce water usage. The first difference I noticed was the showers that have timers and turn off every 15 or so seconds. This adjustment may be difficult for people in America because as I said before, we are used to the luxury of long showers. The purpose of timed showers is to be conscious of the water and when you need it, for example you do not need the water to be turned on as you are scrubbing your hair, only when you are rinsing it. The next difference I noticed was the sinks as they turn off every few seconds as well. If more people in America had timed showers, it would make people more conscious to be quick when rinsing hands or brushing teeth. Not keeping the faucet on for longer than necessary means you are being more aware of how much water doesn’t actually need to be used. There were no plastic water bottles, also harmful to the environment, so I was very aware and cautious about conserving the water I poured into my reusable water bottle. I did not waste any water and only refilled the water when I was finished with the whole bottle. Lastly, the strategies eco-village has to washing dishes are extremely eco-friendly when it comes to conserving water. Instead of keeping the water running like I normally used to do at home, the sink was filled with water and that water was used to wash all the dishes.
It has not even been a full week since I have been in Ireland and I already came to a confident consensus that Ireland is intensely more environmentally friendly and impose conservation efforts and actions daily. The people and country are aware of their footprint on this planet and remain conscious of their water usage every day.
No direct quote, wrong category… should be “water”