I really like the idea of having some kind of real and immediate display of your consumption. I wouldn’t use balloons, but it gets that point across. Via the always great AIDG blog. What would you do if you had to carry all the trash you throw away in a day with you? Could you do it?
4 thoughts on “What If Your Consumption Was Visible”
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That’s a great video, I can’t believe nearly half his balloons were just from that morning shower. It really starts to make the case for low-flow showerheads. As for the trash, I know I couldn’t carry all the trash I produce in a day with me, mostly due to large Styrofoam to-go boxes from lunch and dinner, but that is an issue I will hopefully be working on in the near future.
What an arse! 10 minutes in the shower! Driving a mile when he could have walked!
And what about the energy required to make the food he ate?
I would like to see all the consumption in the form of weights equivalent to the carbon dioxide consumption. That would be at least 40kg he’d have to drag around with him by the end of the day.
I tried the trash thing for 2 days. I skipped out on so many things so I wouldn’t have to cart around extra containers or feel guilty because I forgot to bring my mug to the coffee shop and things like that. Styrofoam solution: bring your own Tupperware. :)
There were three of us that carried our disposable dishes around for a few days at a conference for young leaders (well back in 1990 I think). It started to smell pretty bad after a while, but was certainly a conversation point. Didn’t bring along any other garbage with us though.
Tracking consumption like that would be good though.. Even if it weren’t made public, just if at the end of the year you could total everything up at the en of the year. Heck, I’m sure that the points folks already know this for a big chunk of our population.