It's interesting to think about Earth Day, especially as an American currently living in America. It has been nice to be home and take advantage of the "comforts" that we all take for granted -- and the comforts of my parent's house!
The contrasts between living in Senegal and living in the United States are stunning, especially in terms of environmental impact. This is not a conclusive list, but may give you an idea of how much resources we each use to maintain our "lifestyles."
An Average Day (for me) in America:
- 10-minute shower with several gallons of HOT water
- Lights on in the house for 6(?) hours
- 2 hours on the computer
- 1 gallon of gas for my car
- Clean clothes and linens washed and dried in MACHINES
- 1 bag of trash, mostly from food packaging or newspapers
- And of course, much more waste that was produced to make things that I consume, from my clothes to hair/face products, to food imported or manufactured from different parts of the country and the world, to the cleaning products used to clean our house and cars, etc.
(I'm sure I'm missing tons of other things, but then again, all of these things are things we know and accept.)
But, for some perspective...
An Average Day (for me) in Senegal:
- No electricity
- No hot water, running water
- 10-liters of water each day for bathing/drinking
- 15 extra liters of water each week for washing clothes
- Virtually no trash, except from packaging from things that were sent to me from the States
- When I would take a "car" into town, I would be one of 25 passengers crammed into a small bus, maybe using 2 gallons a trip, every two weeks
Obviously we don't want to give up many of our "pleasures" and "comforts," especially when we can still afford them, but it is something to think about. If our natural resources are here for everyone on this planet, why are we using so much more?
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2 comments:
Hello, Jaime!
Great menu!
I loved this post and this blog.
Have a nice day.
Hi Jamie,
My name is Laiah and I am a senior at American University. I was recently accepted to the peace corps as a community health volunteer for a French speaking sub-saharan country and was fortunate enough to stumble upon your blog. Bedsides your placement I noticed we have other things in common too, like the fact that I'm also from northern california and studied abroad at UCT. I just wanted to thank you for your blog...it really provided me with a lot of insight as I am faced with the decision of whether to join the PC. I would love to talk to you and ask you some questions if you have the chance so if you don't mind sending me an email so I can write to you with my questions, my email is laiah.idelson@gmail.com. Thank you so much, and I hope you don't think this is super weird!
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