Why it makes a Difference to take a short Shower

Separating garbage does not help. The garbage I separate here ends up in Africa or China anyway, or is burned stupidly. So the problem is merely shifted; a kind of indulgence trade, so that we can feel better. Taking a short shower doesn’t help either, because showering is not the problem when we look at the global figures. We in Germany can’t make much difference when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases, avoiding all kinds of garbage or anything else. China, the USA and India are more relevant when it comes to changing their consumption behavior. As an individual, I can’t do anything about such a global problem as global warming anyway, what I do is – if you take a closer look at the numbers – completely irrelevant. Basically, it’s all about the problems in the industry and therefore about decisions on a political level, right? That’s right! That’s true, but it’s also not true. If we always look at the global figures, we can let it be anyway, that is a cynical and cowardly insanity theory to avoid our own responsibility. It is much more interesting for us in our everyday lives to tell ourselves that we, as small citizens of civil society, do indeed have efficacy and are indeed responsible for our planet in the small things of life. It is not just that we can actually make a difference if we pull together. Many small people can, of course, make a big difference.

But I’m talking about something completely different, something that is much closer to us than our consumption habits and is therefore often overlooked or underestimated. For me, it’s about the fact that taking a quick shower does something to me. It’s not about mortifying yourself and losing the joy of warm water – quite the opposite: shower less and enjoy it more! It’s much more about the fact that it sets an important process in motion in me or further reinforces a good tendency in me when I think about such things. Because when I consciously take a short shower, I think about my ethical behavior. Over and over again. Daily. And when I think about showering, I start thinking about other things too. I think about the concatenation of efficacies my behavior brings. These inner changes in thinking change my ability to reflect, they train my thinking in how things are connected. If I then think about showering, I may come to the conclusion that it makes sense to use less, no or at least biodegradable shampoo, since it means a high energy expenditure to clean the water again from those chemical substances that actually have no place in water. And if I understand how things are interrelated on a small scale, I also understand better how things are interrelated on a large scale. When I connect my actions in everyday life with an ethical dimension of responsibility, I not only understand the world and myself better, I also place myself in a different relationship to the world. I bring a different appreciation to the world of living things. Taking a short shower means nothing other than: I change my attitude. That helps.