This headline might seem a bit weird at first to some of you but bear with me. Every time I go camping I recognise the incredible value of flowing tap water. Wether it's about cooking your meal, prepare a tea, brushing your teeth, obvious things like taking a shower and even washing your hands and small things like rinsing your veggies before your prepare them. Water is at the centre of it. When you do all of these things at home, you barely think about how many liters of water you use or how long the tap has been running. But when you're out on the trail and you have a maximum of 2-3 liters with you, resource management and efficient water management becomes the real challenge. What is more important - drinking, water for cooking, showering or cosmetic uses like washing your face? Nothing changes your behaviour towards water so quickly and makes you realize the correct order of importance of the before mentioned uses once you have experience a shortage of water. Most of us live privileged life where we never had to worry about having to little water to survive, therefore I believe that being out in nature for a couple of days completely resets your standards and makes you appreciate "simple and basic" things which are essentially the most important. If you have made it this far and still follow my reasoning, good on you!
You might think where systemic change can come from one person going camping? Think about a large scale government subsidized outdoor education program, let's call it the "water challenge weekend". It doesn't require a lot of money going into this project and could save millions for cities and municipalities in a decreased water consumption for pointless waste like endless taps running while brushing your teeth etc. Going into the wild for even just one day would likely change the view of people in regard to what to appreciate in our homes and how to conserve resources better.
Hi Christopher,
Your post immediately caught my attenion. I completely agree from my own personal experience that going camping makes you really concious about the amount of water you are using. I liked that you didn't just end your post telling people to go camping because I find that even though I do become extra careful about my water consumption while I camp, I find that when I come home I immediately resort back to my normal attitudes about water without even realizing. So then your idea about further implementing a subsidized outdoor education program that anyone can attend to really allow people to keep the attitude of water scarcity outside of just a campsite is a fantastic idea.
Great idea, pretty sure we all love going camping, and the loss of water security from this activity should give us an insight into just how precious this resource is. This idea has been lost due to our abundance mindset when sitting comfortably at home. Even now, with the lack of rain in Vancouver, the city is calling for all people to scale back water consumption in face of this adversity, but it's hard to imagine if we can take this seriously given our abundance mindset.
Hi Christopher! Great title! I agree with you that not having water really makes one appreciative of its value and the ease with which we can acquire it. Even when the plumber turns off the water in the house for a couple hours to repair something completely can immediately make me aware of its absence. I love your idea about a large scale government outdoor education program and I would absolutely participate!
Hi Christopher!
Your title is definitely what made me click on your post :) This is going to sound unbelievable, but I have actually never gone camping before! I think it is amazing that you linked your passion of camping to the class theme of water. You are 100% right - at home we never take time to consider how much water is consumed for simple tasks. I love your idea of the "Water Challenge Weekend" as it will force people to efficiently manage a limited amount of water. It sounds like a fun activity that I would sign up for in a heartbeat and believe that many other people would too.
Wow Christopher! This post blew my mind because it's so simple but so true! I would love to see this idea implemented, and because if its feasibility, I'm confident concrete positive impact could come as a result.
I think for me when I go camping, physically seeing the water bladder empty throughout the trip is what makes me stop and think how much water I should be draining per use. I wonder if this idea of physically seeing our water could be transferred into our homes and cities. When water comes out of a tap, there's a seemingly endless supply. But, what if per day, a physical tank was displayed that let us physically track and budget our water for the day? I'd be curious if this would have a similar effect!
Thank you for sharing.
Wow Christopher! I really love your take on this! This post really had me thinking about my own personal water consumption and has definitely inspired for me to be more mindful about it. I really like your idea for an outdoor education program since I believe that hands on learning is great for this kind of thing:)
Hi Christopher, I also talked about that we should appreciate the clean water supply which seems to be easily accessible to us in developed nations, but it is indeed "essentially the most important" thing to us.
Hey Christopher! I love that you reflected on a personal experience that made you realize the value of water in your own life and helped you become more aware of the way we use water everyday without thinking. I have also been camping/backpacking lots and had a similar reflection! I think having a fun program funded by the government that allows people to enjoy and appreciate nature (which also helps us create a passion for saving it) while also making people more aware of their water consumption (as well as other resources required while camping!) is an amazing idea! Not to mention it's great for your physical and mental health. The program honestly sounds like it would address lots of issues society is facing!