written by Dulce Castillo
I may have laughed a bit loudly last year when I read this kvetch:
“To Kenan community: Thank you for the 5 minute shower timers, they help me divide my 15 minute shower into three sections.”
(DTH 9/30/2011)
I also thought the plastic hourglass looked out of place outside the confines of a game closet.
Rest assured, Carolina green-thusiasts: my apathy does not extend to all environmentally conscious measures. I just never found it necessary to assess my water conservation efforts. I’ll let readers be the judge: I avoid long showers in order to avoid the communal bathroom, I use a plastic cup to hold water as I brush my teeth, and, according to my disappointed physician, I never drink enough fluids.
I may have laughed a bit loudly last year when I read this kvetch:
“To Kenan community: Thank you for the 5 minute shower timers, they help me divide my 15 minute shower into three sections.”
(DTH 9/30/2011)
I also thought the plastic hourglass looked out of place outside the confines of a game closet.
Rest assured, Carolina green-thusiasts: my apathy does not extend to all environmentally conscious measures. I just never found it necessary to assess my water conservation efforts. I’ll let readers be the judge: I avoid long showers in order to avoid the communal bathroom, I use a plastic cup to hold water as I brush my teeth, and, according to my disappointed physician, I never drink enough fluids.
It must not be surprising that at the outset of UNC’s Water In Our World theme, I thought a global or statewide approach to the ethical treatment of water would be the most relevant to my experience. Thus, when the Parr Center encouraged me to write about the importance of water in keeping with our pan-campus theme, I decided that exploring water a broader scope would be much less tired than an article on water conservation on a personal level.
Little did I know, my congruence to the issue would be called into question the very weekend I planned to write this post. I live in an older dorm on campus, and my fellow residents and I have established a loving relationship with the quaint building over the years. The dorm’s plumbing system is not so quaint. Last year, one of the stalls featured what I called “Eternal Flush,” which lasted almost a minute. This year, flushing a square of toilet paper requires two pulls of the handle. And last weekend, a glimpse at a new quirk changed my viewpoint on my use of water.
One of our showers in my hall was left on for at least eleven hours. I know, because I discovered that the handle was stuck and notified the community manager, who told me that nobody else had reported the issue and that she would email Fix My Room to handle the issue. The shower was, indeed, fixed the following afternoon.
I understand that our campus is old and resources are limited. I am grateful for the dedicated workers who ensure that our Rooms are Fixed. It is alarming, however, that despite the number of people in my hall (and the obvious issues with our water system), it took hours for someone to notify housing about such a waste of our natural resources. No matter how conscious we are of our use of water, no matter how many statistics about its importance we can recite, truly understanding the importance of water requires that we take action when its unethical treatment affects us even indirectly. I will be sure to blow whistles next time I witness the “Eternal Flush.”
I encourage any Tar Heel reading this post to allow Water In Our World to inspire their water consciousness. You might be unaware of holes in your own commitment to the issue.
Little did I know, my congruence to the issue would be called into question the very weekend I planned to write this post. I live in an older dorm on campus, and my fellow residents and I have established a loving relationship with the quaint building over the years. The dorm’s plumbing system is not so quaint. Last year, one of the stalls featured what I called “Eternal Flush,” which lasted almost a minute. This year, flushing a square of toilet paper requires two pulls of the handle. And last weekend, a glimpse at a new quirk changed my viewpoint on my use of water.
One of our showers in my hall was left on for at least eleven hours. I know, because I discovered that the handle was stuck and notified the community manager, who told me that nobody else had reported the issue and that she would email Fix My Room to handle the issue. The shower was, indeed, fixed the following afternoon.
I understand that our campus is old and resources are limited. I am grateful for the dedicated workers who ensure that our Rooms are Fixed. It is alarming, however, that despite the number of people in my hall (and the obvious issues with our water system), it took hours for someone to notify housing about such a waste of our natural resources. No matter how conscious we are of our use of water, no matter how many statistics about its importance we can recite, truly understanding the importance of water requires that we take action when its unethical treatment affects us even indirectly. I will be sure to blow whistles next time I witness the “Eternal Flush.”
I encourage any Tar Heel reading this post to allow Water In Our World to inspire their water consciousness. You might be unaware of holes in your own commitment to the issue.