Water. The most essential necessity for humans, plants, and animals to survive. This weeks lesson discusses resource dilemmas and social psychology in the everyday environment. Our textbook states that less than three percent of Earth’s water is fresh and of that amount 70% is sealed in ice and snow. In developing nations women have to walk over three miles to obtain their fresh water (Gruman, 2017, p. 357). With that being said, in my opinion, Americans are selfish when it comes to the use of natural resources.
Is it necessarily our fault? Everything we know how to do and how to do it is a learned behavior. For example, you brush your teeth and leave the water on while brushing and your parents never corrected you for leaving the water on. Although, it is not your intention to waste water, it is a repeated behavior overtime that grows into a habit when it is never corrected. While China uses a lot of coal and copper, the United States remains the per capita leader for most resources. This could also be associated with equity theory, for example, you may have been taught to save water so your mother limits you to three bottles of water a day, meanwhile, not one of your friends are limited to the amount of water they use or consume. So you take it upon yourself to use just as much water as your friend because it is simply not fair. So you make it fair by not limiting your water because nobody else does.
However if we make a societal and cultural change to save instead of using or spending, social norms in America would appear slightly different. Gas for example, we have electric cars but cars that use gas are still on the market? Can we not make all cars electric? Bottled water, the usage of plastic and metals. Can we not create things that disintegrate such as cardboard, paper, or reusable copper bottles? These are the actions our political leaders could take, but history has a way of repeating itself. Minor changes citizens of the united states could take is monitoring their behaviors, using reusable water bottles instead of plastic, and becoming selfless or considerate when it comes to usage of resources.
It is reported that by 2050 we will not have enough fresh water for the people who need it. Luckily, we still have over 20 years to make a change (World Water Crisis, 2021). Here are a few behaviors we can incorporate into our lives to make a change: fixing household leaks, only washing clothes when necessary, installing a water-saving shower head, water-saving toilet, and not disposing of medicines, paints, or pollutants down the sink (Save Water, 2022). Also, education on water saving or saving natural resources in general would benefit everyone. With this, parents can teach their children good behaviors to reduce wasting natural resources.
Gruman, J. A., Schnieder, F. W., Coutts, L. M. (2017) Applied Social Psychology. Understanding and Addressing social and Practical problems. Sage.
Save Water: Reduce Your Water Footprint. August 24, 2022. https://en.reset.org/save-water-reduce-your-water-footprint/
When Will Earth Run Out Of Water: World Water Crisis, Scarcity (August 10, 2021) UN Dispatch. https://www.undispatch.com/bad-news-world-will-begin-running-water-2050-good-news-not-2050-yet/#:~:text=He%20warned%20the%20group%20that,not%20come%20as%20a%20surprise.
It is ironic that you posted on water consumption, as I just had this discussion at home with my family. I read to them the same statistics that you posted in your blog from our text this week saying “Earth’s water is fresh and of that amount 70% is sealed in ice and snow.” (Gruman, 2017, p. 357)
When will we run out of water? “While our planet as a whole may never run out of water, it’s important to remember that clean freshwater is not always available where and when humans need it. In fact, half of the world’s freshwater can be found in only six countries. More than a billion people live without enough safe, clean water.” (Will Earth run out of water?: AMNH)
Your ideas on conserving water are excellent. I agree we as parents should be teaching our kids to use less water, if not for saving our environment, then for the cause of lowering your water bill. I understand a lot of people use well water and do not pay for that and therefore may be more likely to use water recklessly. Maybe we need to come up with more incentives for everyone to conserve water.
Will Earth run out of water?: AMNH. American Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/earth/ask-a-scientist-about-our-environment/will-earth-run-out-of-water
Gruman, J. A., Schnieder, F. W., Coutts, L. M. (2017) Applied Social Psychology. Understanding and Addressing social and Practical problems. Sage.
You take a very interesting approach on consumption, that I think that learned behavior is a fairly accurate contributor to consumption. For social learning occurs when “learning is facilitated by observation of, or interaction with, another individual or its products” (Kendal, R. L., Et. al (2018)). This is where learned behavior is derived from, so it makes sense that if we observe overconsumption of a resource, without a negative consequence, we may develop understanding that this behavior is “okay”, when in reality it really wasteful. Your example of not being told to shut off the water when brushing your teeth by your parents is a perfect example because it discusses an interaction with water usage, parental consequence that does “punish” the behavior. I also agree that cultural norms are different and that what is learned socially in America can differ than that from other countries. Overall, your perspective is very interesting and I think that if we create new norms teach younger generations to be more careful of consumption, we can waste less resources, like water, and conserve more!
References
Kendal, R. L., Boogert, N. J., Rendell, L., Laland, K. N., Webster, M., & Jones, P. L. (2018). Social learning strategies: Bridge-building between fields. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(7), 651-665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.04.003