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Rain Barrels, Water Butts and European Environmental Focus.

Written by Adam Gallegos
Published on July 14th, 2009
Categorized under: Green Ideas

Last weeks Rain Barrel Blog received some interesting feedback, the water butt comments especially attracted my attention. The British do indeed call Rain Barrellrain barrels, water butts, and have been doing so for as long as I can remember. In fact collecting water for the garden in a water butt is not a new concept but goes back many years.

This actually got me thinking that there are many things in the UK and Europe that individuals have been doing for centuries that are very environmentally focused but not necessarily as a result of being eco-friendly minded.

Growing up in the United Kingdom, I know how concerned fellow Brits are about the wastage of water and energy. Leaving a light on in an unoccupied room is a definite no, and running a half empty washing machine just does not happen. I would like to tell you that people in the UK were years ahead of their time in regards to the environment, but the truth of the matter is simple utility costs. Utilities in the UK and most of Europe are still very high, so from the moment you are born it is ingrained in your mind to turn off lights, not to leave the faucet running whilst brushing your teeth, and to use the washing machine during the overnight hours when electricity is cheaper.

After being in the US for the last 7 years, I really notice the differences when visiting the UK and Europe, many homes still do not feature a dishwasher and a majority of people still dry their clothes using wind power, yes that would be on a clothes line.

Europe and the UK are very eco-friendly conscious, probably environmental leaders, but before the whole concept of being green was ever discovered and as a result of economic driven forces theses countries were kind to the environment without knowledge or even trying.

Lisa Tsoupelis, Client Care Manager, Arbour Realty.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 7:20 am and is filed under Green Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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