Faster Than 20
The Calculus of Living Your Values
I have lived in California for most of my life, and so the importance and scarcity of water is engrained in me. Several years ago, my friend Kate told me that she and her husband had made it a practice to capture water from their shower in a five-gallon bucket as they waited for it to warm up. They would then transfer the water into a rain barrel in their garden. I loved that idea, but our bathroom is tiny, and the thought of storing a large empty bucket there seemed challenging. Nevertheless, the idea stuck, and over the years, I pondered different possibilities. Last month, I was passing the automobile aisle in a hardware store, and I saw a four-gallon oil drain container. You lay it on the side to capture the liquid as it drains, then stand it up when storing it. Because the canister is narrow, it’s compact, perfect for our bathroom. We’ve been experimenting with it for the past few months. It saves about 3/4 of a gallon per shower, so 1.5 gallons a day between me and my partner, which amounts to over 500 gallons a year. We use it to water our plants and to refill our bird bath. I find it immensely satisfying. I’m also pretty sure this is one of the least strategic ways for us to save water. We could instead: Take shorter showers Take cold showers Replace our thirstier plants (which we’ve already largely done) and our bird bath Eat less meat Install a gray water system Lobby for a city-wide water recycling program Even if there are better ways to save water, it doesn’t mean our bucket experiment is not a worthwhile activity. Kate, who has worked in ocean conservation most of her career and is now focused on data stewardship , has explained that beach cleanups do almost nothing at a macro level to actually keep our beaches and our oceans clean, but have a slew of other benefits, including giving people a greater sense of connection to the ocean. This feeling not only benefits the individual, it can eventually lead to major policy wins. Staying strategic is about balancing small experiments with larger goals . Trying small things that are not likely to make a huge impact may result in other, unexpected wins. Our bucket experiment gave me a better sense of how much water we actually use and where. I learned that four gallons of water is heavy and unwieldy, and that, if we were to try another version of this experiment, we would use a smaller container. It was also just fun to think creatively and to repurpose an inexpensive household item in an unusual way. At the same time, this experiment could easily have become a gateway to compulsive, stressful behavior that resulted in very little actual gains. When you’re trying to live a values-aligned life, it’s easy to overwhelm yourself with small things that may not have any impact on the results you actually care about. I see this manifest in organizations all the time. I see groups preaching anti-racism while underpaying and overworking their multi-racial staff. I see leaders advocating for self-care while overwhelming their staff with constantly shifting priorities. I see leaders punt on making decisions in the name of inclusion, when what their reports actually want (and are often asking for) is clarity. The legendary basketball coach and executive, Pat Riley , is fond of saying, “Keep the main thing the main thing.” By all means, play, but don’t lose sight of your larger goals. Take the time to be intentional , check in with yourself and your peers, and adjust. Most importantly, be nice to yourselves. Just because it’s not making the impact you want doesn’t mean there aren’t other benefits. Photo by World Bank . CC BY-NC-ND
