Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)

Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)! If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a complete list of all the challenges we've taken on so far.

There's a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read through it ... however, if you'd rather jump straight to the current challenge, you can do so by clicking here: This Week's Challenge

Last week we asked everyone to take short showers. It was a repeat of a challenge we did some time ago. If you'd like to read the comments from that challenge, please click HERE.

Back to this week ... Argentum Vulgaris upped the ante and challenged us to limit our showers even further ... down to 3 minutes each. He also suggested another water-saving technique that had some people going "eeewwwww". Brian went even further and suggested that we use cool/cold water, which saves electricity as well as water.

I've been taking short showers for some time. I've found that there are a few techniques that help:

• Put the plug in the tub while showering ... as the water creeps up your leg, you'll know exactly how much water is being used.
  
• Get wet, turn off the water while lathering up, then turn it on to rinse.
• Use natural, Eco-friendly soaps that rinse off quickly. Many commercial soaps have additives that leave a residue on one's skin. Here's a tip ... soaps that contain moisturizers are hard to wash off.

Our #CTWW Gang grew to 42 people this week. WhooHoo! That's a lot of people passing the green word! How does one become a member? Easy ... just tweet about our challenge using the hashtag #CTWW. Let's meet this week's gang members:

@ambianceeco
@tiffanystoybox
@cheffelisha
@whopaysthepiper
@skipbang
@waylandcook
@yan_tougas
@waxelene
@PeopleTowels
@newgrass
@coffeetablepoet
@tazzini
@women4earth
@EnviroFusion
@ecobeautiful
@Takebacktables
@groovygreenlivi
@UpcycledLove
@LittleGreenBlog
@GoGreenBeans
@greentim
@venajensen
@HOMEOPATH2STARS
@alwayswellwithn
@hshawjr
@simpleisworking
@Lynn_Stone
@MindfulMomma
@BecomingCrunchy
@GiveTreeGifts
@clothmamajess
@noteasy2begreen
@LearnFromNature
@hopealso
@martinimom
@greenlegume
@escapingjourney
@aapremlall
@ilovelaurynhill
@greenbabydiaper
@tmuffindotcom
@twinvisionameri


If you're on twitter be sure to follow these folks ... they have a lot of good stuff to say.

Next up ... our Honor Society. These are folks who wrote posts about the challenge and/or left meaningful comments. Here they are:

Mandi lives "green" in most areas of her life ... except when it comes to taking showers. She loves long showers. She did, however, take the challenge. How did it go Mandi?

EcoGrrl has installed a brilliant water-saving device in her home ... it's a dehumidifier which extracts water from the air and uses it to water her veggie garden. She purchased an energy-star unit saving electricity as well as water. Very cool, Eco-Grrl! She also had some information for us regarding our previous challenge on plastic. In her words "vitamin bottles and prescription bottles are both recyclable - vitamin ones can go curbside in most places, prescriptions you have to take to a recycling facility (like here, far west fibers that takes 1-7). so the big deal is to buy the largest amount in one bottle - and hey, ends up being cheaper overall. a lot of prescriptions you can get in 90 day supply if you order over mail instead of going in a pharmacy."

On the day that the challenge came out, Mrs. Green was feeling cold and depressed. So ... she wanted a nice bath to feel better (I hope it brightened your day, Mrs. Green). In this POST, she'll tell you why she doesn't take showers and how her bathing habits use less water than most people's showering habits.

Argentum Vulgaris is a multi-tasker. And he takes this talent to the shower. Curious about all the things he accomplishes in his 3-minute showers? Check out this POST. Thanks for upping our ante, AV!

Nicole B. shared that, on our previous challenge to avoid plastic, she had a hard time avoiding it. There simply were things she needed that didn't come in anything but plastic. That being said, she plans to keep the challenge in mind and look for alternative packaging whenever possible. Yay, Nicole! For this week's challenge she says that she does enjoy an occasional bath so, she plans to skip a few showers and "save up" for a bath. By the way, Nicole is celebrating Christmas in July on her blog (think gifts). Be sure to swing by and check it out!

Coffee Table Poetry Musings gave our challenge a front page spot. This publication includes other great articles including "Juan Carlos Hernandez | One Life Photos 2011", "Home Based Business Opportunity" and "Do words hurt the world? (ouch) : Harriet Staff : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation".

Brian joined the fun and upped the ante even further by suggesting that we take our showers using the coldest possible water. Running the water heater for less time uses less energy ... and I'm guessing that taking a cold shower will ensure a brief shower. Thanks, Brian!

When I first saw the title of Jessica's post, I got a little worried and hoped she wasn't taking action against our challenges. But nope ... she's boycotting something else. Check out this ARTICLE to see who's on her "hit list" and why ... and the brilliant alternate that she's now using. You'll also find an update on her water use for the week. Thanks, Jessica!

Nicki Woo shares that this challenge is easy for her family and she'll limit her showers to no more than 4 minutes. WhooHoo! As for AV's challenge she says "I have little conservationists here that are already peeing in the shower".

We have new participants this week. The Ladies of Green Baby Diaper Service took the challenge. WhooHoo! In this POST, you'll find a very entertaining conversation between Liz & Gaby about showers, husbands and multi-tasking. You'll also find out how much water one can save by simply reducing a shower by 3 minutes. Great to have you with us, Ladies!

Our friend Ann saves water by doing her dishes by hand. Thanks, Ann!

Rewinn suggests that "Showering with your wife/hubby/partner-of-any-sort saves water AND relationships." He maintains that, romance and financial aspects aside, it's a great few minutes to chat about nothing.

PLEASE JOIN ME IN WISHING REWINN
A HAPPY "BELATED" BIRTHDAY!!
Wishing you all the best, my green friend!!

Rachel accepted this challenge (while she's been following our activities for awhile, this is the first challenge that she has participated in ... nice to have you, Rachel). She shares that her showers actually took longer once she stopped using shampoos and opted for the "no-poo" system. She believes that the shampoo/rinse cycle acted as an indicator for when she should end her shower ... without that signal, her mind drifted and her showers lengthened. To solve the problem, she engaged the use of a timer. Challenge met! Great idea, Rachel!!

The Harold Shaw Daily gave our challenge a nice write-up. That edition includes great reading such as "HoopsHype - NBA Rumors", "But There Is Still Joy in the World" and "A Sustainable Life: the little and often chronicles". Be sure to check it out!

Simplicityworkn suggests that we shower with a friend (no, he's not a "perve" or a spammer). He maintains that if we shower with a friend we can take a 10 minute shower and save water because we'll only have to let the water "run until warm" once rather than twice. He's also a proponent of the pre-rinse/lather/rinse routine where one turns off the water before the lather portion of a shower. By the way, Simple Is Working is a brand new green (sort of) blog. Be sure to check it out.

This was a tough challenge for Kris and she wonders how women can shave, shampoo, etc. in 5 minutes. Green Diaper Baby Service had one idea ... check it out HERE (not sure if it really fits into your lifestyle though ... lol). In this POST Kris talks about why this challenge is tough and how she's going to approach it.

Have you met Brenna? She has a terrific blog called Almost All The Truth. Brenna is joining us for the first time (welcome, Brenna!) and says that she is going to use a timer to see if she can "push it". She shares a problem that, I believe, many of us face ... she comes up with great ideas in the shower and is so busy thinking that she loses track of time and forgets to keep her showers short.

Alicia took this challenge (an easy one for her) and, in this POST, shares how she saves water. What I found particularly interesting is that her method not only saves water but prevents harmful chlorine gases from escaping into the air which is a concern, especially for people with asthma or bronchitis. Thanks, Alicia ... I learned something new!!

Ms. Green Legume joined our challenge and, in this POST, shares that most of this week's showers were a bit over 5 minutes. However, she uses a low-flow shower head and she employs a great little trick for saving the "warm-up" water. Can you guess how she uses that water? Yes, she waters plants with it but she also uses it in another way. Be sure to check out her post to find out how.

Tmuffin gets the award for the most creative short shower ever ... and great pictures documenting the process (don't worry ... they aren't "risque"). How did she do it? She wore her baby in the shower. Okay ... you're definitely curious now, right? Head over and read this POST ... it's wonderful! Thanks, Tmuffin!

Great job everyone! As always, if you wrote a post I have Stumbled, Tweeted and Facebooked it. If you would like to pass the word about our activities, please use the share buttons at the end of this post. And thank you!

This Week's Challenge:

Are you ready for another challenge? This is one which seems so simple but, in reality, gives a lot of people trouble. Let's tackle it:

This week, for an entire 7 days, avoid using or buying paper towels.

Or ...

If you never use paper towels, please share the ways in which you get by without them.

UP THE ANTE: Argentum Vulgaris challenges us to further reduce our paper use by eliminating serviettes (aka napkins) from our lives. Who's going to take him up on his counter-challenge??

RAISE THE ANTE: Liz & Gaby challenge us to not only switch to cloth towels but to reuse old clothing (T-shirts, etc.) as towels. Fabulous!! Who's going to take this on?

RAISE THE ANTE AGAIN: Ecolicious Mama challenges us to carry cloth napkins with us for times when we need a napkin "on the go" ... such as eating out or packing a lunch. Brilliant! Who's going to take this challenge on?

TRIPLE RAISE THE ANTE: Mrs. Green is doing all of the above so she challenges us to use "wee cloths" instead of toilet paper. Wow! Not sure what a wee cloth is? She describes them HERE. Who's going to take this challenge? Come on ... I know you want to!!

Yep ... this is a repeat challenge so ... great opportunity for those of you who have already accomplished this task to up the ante! I can't wait to see what you come up with this week!

What do you think? Are you up for it? I know that you are!!

Until next time ...

WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ... ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!