Because
we live in Bush Alaska with limited power and few modern
conveniences, most Americans of our acquaintance think our lifestyle
difficult or at least odd. But after reflecting on our past five
winter visits to India and South America, we have concluded that our
modest carbon/utility footprint is not that much different than homes
we visited in India, Argentina, Paraguay, and Peru (some affluent and
others very modest). Many readers have read that the average U.S.
Household produces about 3 times the carbon of European homes and 10 times those of
India. The examples below may indicate how they do that, and how readers can live well with lower utility bills and expectations.
PLUMBING:
We
rely on an outhouse and interior chamber pot, which is certainly more
primitive than all but one home we stayed in (on an island in Lake
Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia). In fact, that part of
the world is “decorated” with identical colorful metal
outhouses, gifts of the government. But even in Peruvian urban
areas, with populations of 500,000 to 12 million, each bathroom with
flush toilets instructs users not to put ANY paper down the toilet,
but to deposit the noisome tissues in an adjacent trash can. In this
way, presumably, old sewage systems can accommodate burgeoning
populations. (I did not encounter this in Ecuador or Chile.) Each wash area usually has a much used cloth towel
hanging on a nail for use by one and all.
Throughout India, one needs to carry one's own toilet paper into most public facilities or pay a person kneeling outside. Inside, some offer western style toilets, usually with a bidet wand instead of toilet paper, but many offer instead a tiled floor, with an oblong hole surrounded by textured foot markings and a bucket of water nearby for rinsing the hole and floor (no flushing mechanism). Increasing numbers of U.S. homes and restaurants are starting to install low water toilets, particularly in water starved and high cost areas. To encourage such proactivity, my parents' suburb in San Francisco publishes and distributes a “wall of shame” list naming “water hog” property owners.
As a side note, Indians who have visited the U.S. are startled by the lack of privacy in our public stalls. I can see their point! Our “peekaboo” panels are indeed much less private than the floor to ceiling walls and doors common throughout India, but found only in the better restaurants and clubs in the U.S.
Throughout India, one needs to carry one's own toilet paper into most public facilities or pay a person kneeling outside. Inside, some offer western style toilets, usually with a bidet wand instead of toilet paper, but many offer instead a tiled floor, with an oblong hole surrounded by textured foot markings and a bucket of water nearby for rinsing the hole and floor (no flushing mechanism). Increasing numbers of U.S. homes and restaurants are starting to install low water toilets, particularly in water starved and high cost areas. To encourage such proactivity, my parents' suburb in San Francisco publishes and distributes a “wall of shame” list naming “water hog” property owners.
As a side note, Indians who have visited the U.S. are startled by the lack of privacy in our public stalls. I can see their point! Our “peekaboo” panels are indeed much less private than the floor to ceiling walls and doors common throughout India, but found only in the better restaurants and clubs in the U.S.
