Our gOOOders team has been working behind the scenes to bring you the beautiful, meaningful and sustainable products you can find on our platform and our gorgeous pop up boutiques. Now we thought it was a gOOOd time to get up close and personal with them. After all, if you want to be a gOOOder yourself, become part of the team, you may want to meet your future team mates. Right?
Caterina Bandini, aka Cate, is very passionate about looking after our environment, so today, we chat to her about her four top tips to save water.
gOOOders: Ciao Cate,
So tell us, when did you first realize that water was precious?
Caterina:
Well when I was really young, like 13 or 14 years old. My parents had a sailing boat and as you can imagine, when you are on a boat, the water supply is very limited. My parents were very insistent about how careful we had to be with our water consumption. That stayed with me.
And then in the nineties, I was really into Greenpeace and I got really concerned with news of the whole in the ozone layer and what that would do to our environment. Water supplies was part of that problem.
That's really when I became aware how scarce water is for some people. To me, it's a problem if I don't have water to wash myself so to imagine that people had to walk for miles and miles and miles to get drinking water, to prepare food or whatever, it was so painful.
So I learned very early on in my life that water was so incredibly precious.
gOOOders:
We’d love to find out from you, what are the ways in which you are careful with water nowadays? What can we implement, us who haven't paid so much attention to that subject, that we can start doing straight away?
Cate:
Sure. You can take various small steps.
First like turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. Same for shaving guys!
Then take short showers, and partially filled baths (I read that a partially filled tub uses less water than all but the shortest showers) and consider installing water-saving shower heads or flow restrictors.
It's so simple, but it matters so much because if everyone did that, I mean, we would save so much water, it's unbelievable.
Third: if you need to change your appliances, washing machine, dishwasher, choose eco-efficient models. They tend to be a little more expensive to buy but you'll make the money back by how much electricity and water you'll save. I know because I did it a few years ago.
Do the same with the toilet flush! The largest use of household water is when we flush the toilet, followed by taking showers and baths.
gOOOders:
We'd love to find out where do you go to find the right products or to get knowledgeable about this?
Cate:
Google. I mean, I read a lot of reviews and I tried to stay up to date on doing research myself. Because if you go to a big shop, where they sell appliances, their goal isn't so much on your savings or the water conservation or the environment. They are not very instructed about this for now.
gOOOders:
And how does your family feel about your views? Do they share the same? Do they follow your lead?
Cate:
Not so much. I mean, my parents are old and don't have this kind of sensibility. Yes. I get very upset with my mother upset when she lets the water run, like it doesn't matter, when she washes vegetables.
But I've done a good job with my son. He is now almost 16 years old and he's very careful. So this is a win for me because he's the future. Since he was a little kid, he was teaching his friends not to waste water on the beach and not to use it as a toy because it's something that you have to preserve. If we could pass this lesson to the younger generation, this understanding of how precious water is and to look after it carefully, that would be really great.
gOOOders:
Thank you so much Cate. We're ready to follow in your footsteps!
