Water is one of our most abundant natural resources. This is no reason to waste it or pollute it. We need to start conserving water a little more in our lifestyles. To make my life more sustainable I took a few easy steps to conserve water.

In the mornings when I brush my teeth I cut the water off while I am brushing my teeth. Many people leave the water on while they are brushing their teeth. This wastes more water than you think. The average faucet puts out 3 to 5 gallons a minute. It takes me two to three minutes to brush my teeth. If I leave the water running while I brush my teeth I will be wasting 6 to 10 gallons of water each time that I brush my teeth. A lot of people brush twice a day, the amount of water wasted adds up. It only took a few days to make this a practice a habit. It was not hard at all.

Some mornings or nights I would shave. Many people leave the water running while they are shaving. This really wastes a lot of water. I have started putting a little water in the sink and then cutting off the water. This saves a tremendous amount of water. It takes about three to four minutes for me shave. If the sink is putting out three to five gallons a minute I am wasting 10 to 15 gallons of water. It’s a lot easier to just put a little water in the sink and then cut off the water. I have my dad and brother doing this as well. They agree that it is easy to do.

Another way that I have conserved water is by installing water displacement devices in my toilets at my apartment. A toilet wastes a lot of water every time that it is flushed. A water displacement device will help to fix this problem. I got a _ gallon milk jug, filled it up with water, and then placed in the tank of my toilet. With this devise in the tank the toilet will not use as much water when you flush it. This is just another easy way to conserve water.

One thing that I wanted to do was to cut down on air pollution and save a little gas. The way that I did this was to not let my car idle unnecessarily and to car pull as much as I could. Cut off your car while your sitting in your car talking to someone, reading a map or anything to where you are going to be sitting there a while. This cuts down on air pollution and saves gas. My roommate and I have started riding to school together in the mornings, so that both of us don’t have to drive. This to cuts down on air pollution and the use of gas. We live about 1.1 miles from campus. Our trucks get about 12 miles to a gallon of gas. We go to campus about twice a day. That is 4.3 miles. When we carpool we save almost a gallon of gas a day. These things were pretty easy to get in the habit of doing.

I have started buying produce from my local farmers market. This helps to save me money and it cuts down on trash because most of the produce is not packaged. Many produce-packaging companies go overboard in packaging produce. Most of the time the excess packaging is for advertisement. The produce is considerably cheaper in the farmers market than in the grocery stores. All of the produce is fresher than the produce in the grocery stores. It is convenient for me to go to the farmers market because I have one right down the road from my house. It could be a little inconvenient for some people.

I have been recycling as much as I can. I figured out that about 30% of my trash could be recycled. I recycle cans, newspapers, magazines, glass, and plastic bags. In my pantry at my house I have three containers. One is for glass, the 2^nd is for newspaper, and the 3^rd is for aluminum cans. I have a trash collection station about a mile down the road from my house. They have recycling bins that I can empty my cans, glass, and newspapers in. Trash collection stations found around your community has recycling containers set up for you. If you don’t have any, talk to people in your community and organize a systematic way of recycling in your community. Recycling reduces the use of our natural resources, saves wildlife, and helps to save our wonderful environment. Recycling was a little time consuming for me at first. Once I got my own little system set up, it wasn’t any problem at all.

A more difficult thing that I did was building my own little wildlife refuge. I live on about 100 acres and I have begun to plant food plots for the animals. I put out corn for the deer and squirrels then I planted millet and winter rye for the doves. I can go to this area where I have planted these food plots and see doves, squirrels, rabbits, and deer. I get really excited when I see these animals feeding on the food plots that I planted. Wildlife refugees help animals to live in their natural habitats instead of in pollution and dirty environments.

Many of these things are easier to do than others, but they help to make our lifestyles more sustainable. These actions help our precious environment in so many ways. One person cannot do it alone though. "If you are not a part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem." Everyone needs to step in and take part of making his or her lifestyle more sustainable.

Nick Hook

Hort 208