Design Matters: Resource efficiency, it is important for all of us

It is a difficult balance to know how to best use your resources. We want to be able to live freely and to the fullest, but what if your usage of _______ prevents someone else from having access to ________. (feel free to substitute water, air, money, food in the blanks). I was discussing yesterday the resources that we typically overlook as in need of protection – water. With the ability to turn on a tap and run water, to walk up to a fountain in any building and drink their water, to enjoy a fountain in the park, we take water for granted. What if you were only allowed to have a few gallons of water a day. Would you use them the same way? What if someone built a home next to you and your well went dry due to their water usage, would they be responsible for drilling a new well for you? What if a fire was raging across your state and their was not enough water to put it out? What if, I fear, is coming soon to a neighborhood near you. We need to protect our water supply and think of ways to reduce consumption. This will save us all money and conserve the resource that we all need to survive.