The Ethics of Everyday Decisions - Watering the Lawn

This is the continuation of a series encouraging an examination of everyday decisions from a moral standpoint. How do our everyday actions help or harm ourselves and others? Think about it. For those interested, there is a Scriptural insight relating to the everyday decision, from a Christian standpoint. I welcome responses from those who might be able to offer similar insights from the Koran or other sacred writings. Over the next few months, watch for postings on health decisions, work decisions, environmental decisions, relationship decisions, and...who knows what else?

This blog series is for the purpose of raising up the moral issues involved in everyday decision making. So what about living in a townhome development or in a municipality whose laws require lawns to be watered and cared for? Even in such a prescribed situation, there are ethical decisions to be made.

What are some of the conflicting values among which decisions have to be made?

1. Respect for the law
2. Protecting the scarce resource of water
3. Being fair to immediate neighbors
4. Being fair to neighbors living up or downstream in the watershed
5. Protecting shrinking city green spaces
6. Use of our own leisure time

While these are clearly not all the issues, you can see the dilemmas that present themselves. Ethics is about making informed choices based on the values you and others hold dear. As in this case, there are almost always conflicting values. Which is more important, the beauty of a city lot or the water supply of a municipality downstream? Which is right, obeying the law or protecting a natural resource? What are the tradeoffs? Can one use less water by mulching around the plants in the lawn, or changing the slope of the yard? How does that affect resources such as income which may be scarce enough to barely afford food? Does one simply accept a law, or get involved with the legislative process to change it to more closely align with one's values?

Neither the questions nor the answers are easy, but not asking and not trying to answer is simply unacceptable. Wrestle with these questions. Raise the issues in neighborhood meetings and e-mail or write your legislators.

The ethics of everyday decisions are just that - everyday decisions. Respond to this post with how you have made your decision.

Scriptural Insight: "I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees...Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun...Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." - Ecclesiastes 2:5,6,11; 12:13-14

The Ethics of Everyday Decisions - Taking a Shower

So, there you are, in the privacy of your own bathroom. You turn the water on and close the shower door and you are absolutely alone. Or are you? Could it be that even in your shower you are making decisions that affect you, your children, the nation and the environment? The answer is, “Yes.” The decisions you make as you retreat to your bathroom sanctuary are moral decisions – that is, they have the potential to help or harm yourself and others. Most of them affect others environmentally, but some are more direct. (Lest you think there is only one right decision to be made, be sure to read all the way to the end.)

“What decisions?” you might ask. Consider the simple steps of taking a shower and the decision involved:

1. You flip on the light. Do you consider turning on only the single-bulb shower light, or do you automatically reach for the multiple-bulb lights over the sink? Did you also flip on the heat lamp? If you’re alone in the house, do you think about leaving the door open rather than running the exhaust fan?
2. You grab a towel off the rack. Is it one you’ve used at least a couple times before or do you insist on a newly washed, fluffy towel, fresh out of the dryer? (And what kind of towels do you have hanging in your bathroom? Lush, thick towels that take three times as long to dry, tumbling around in the dryer, or thinner, utilitarian towels?
3. You turn on the spigot. Look up at the shower head. Is it a flow-restricted head designed to give maximum pressure with minimum water usage? Do you turn it on full-blast or do you adjust it down to only what you really need to do the job? (Note to self: check the settings on your hot water heater. Setting it down a couple of notches still delivers water hot enough to be comfortable, but uses far less energy to heat).
4. You lather up. Do you leave the shower running or do you stop the flow? Are you using biodegradable soaps and shampoos?
5. You rinse off. Do you stand there soaking up the good feeling of the hot water running over you or do you do the job and get out?

Of course, your decisions on all the above depend on the relative values you hold. For example, is your shower your one, clean escape from the rat race? Perhaps it is what helps you face the spouse and kids with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

This web log is not meant to prescribe the right answer, but rather to get you to ask the right questions. Weigh the differing, and even competing values you hold and make decisions for action based on what you hold dear. Ethics is about making informed choices based on the values you and others believe in.

Now, go shower and get ready for your day!

Scriptural insight: “‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds…who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.” Ezekiel 34:2-3

Blogger Tags: Ethics, practical ethics, ethical decisions, ethical behavior, showering, environment, water usage

The Ethics of Everyday Decisions - Driving Fast

Did it ever occur to you that how you drive is a moral decision? Besides the obvious values on human lives (and the possible threat to yourself and others from reckless driving and high speeds) think about this. What is your value on patriotism? What is your value on the environment?

The following data will hopefully get you thinking about how aggressive driving and speeding - yes, even 5 mph over the limit - could affect all of us.

America's independence from foreign oil is certainly affected by the decisions we make as we drive to and from work. There are those who believe the last couple wars America has been involved in are all about oil. Whether or not that's true, don't you think it's worth thinking about before we try to gain an extra couple of minutes on our commute by speeding?

Burning any percent more fuel puts that same percent of CO2 emissions into the atomosphere and consumes that much more of an unrenewable resource.

Finally, if neither of those values move you, think about how you value your own money. Even at the low end of these projections, you could be spending the equivalent $.39 per gallon more just by the choices you make as you drive.

Read these figures and then make a conscious decision. Now live by it.

(Source: www.fueleconomy.gov)
Drive Sensibly
Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.

Fuel Economy Benefit:
5-33%
Equivalent Gasoline Savings:
$0.16-$1.06/gallon

Observe the Speed Limit
While each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph.
As a rule of thumb, you can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas.
Observing the speed limit is also safer.

Fuel Economy Benefit:
7-23%
Equivalent Gasoline Savings:
$0.23-$0.74/gallon

A Scriptural Perspective: The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. Lev. 25:23-24.