Pee in the Shower: Save the Rainforest.

By | August 10th, 2009 6 Comments

pee in the showerSOS Mata Atlantica Foundation, a Brazilian non-profit organization, is currently running a TV campaign encouraging viewers to save the Atlantic rainforest by peeing in the shower. Their kid-oriented commercial shows recognizable silhouettes, from King Kong to what appears to be Gandhi (really?), reducing their water usage by, uh, making some “rain” of their own in unusual places.

What does urination location have to with saving rainforests? The group says that by avoiding one toilet flush each day, an average household can save up to 4,380 liters (1,157 gallons) of water annually. They don’t even mention the amount of toilet paper saved, or maybe they do, I don’t speak Portuguese.

This seems like it would make a big difference if everyone didn’t already pee in the shower anyway. Don’t they? Perhaps I’m getting a little too personal, but I’m a big fan of peeing in the shower. Something about the reaction of hot water on my skin, like that old sleepover trick when you dip someone’s hand in a bowl of hot water to make them wet their sleeping bag. But I digress. It’s a cute commercial and a fun way to help kids feel like they can contribute to the preservation of the rainforests. Next time I pee in the shower, I’ll pretend it’s for the SOS Mata Atlantica Foundation, and not because of the large cup of coffee I drank.

Watch the strange but adorable TV spot, “Xixi no Banho” here:

6 Comments

Categorized: Cause Marketing|

  • Madeline

    I might be a prude, but I pee before I get in. I am not a big fan of pee on my toes, nor having to clean a pee bathtub. Nice post though!

  • http://geographile.blogspot.com Mary Mactavish

    Madeline: Doesn’t the bathtub get clean while you’re showering? It’s not like it has to be *scrubbed* after pee hits it.

  • Audrey

    Yeah, I assume the ad means to pee *while* the water is running. Therefore no cleaning required. In fact, if you want to save more water, you should probably pee while doing something else, like shampooing, so you don’t take extra time in the shower… so now you have soapy water running while you pee. Totally self-cleaning!

  • http://www.runningonemptybook.com Phillip Greene

    Shucks, the Romans used urine to wash clothes. They left a container outside the laundry and passers by could pee in the container. I assume that they rinsed them well, maybe in a flowing stream, I hope.

  • http://www.earthfacts.net Jona Earth

    It’s not a bad idea I guess. In Japan they have 2 flush settings on toilets, so you just do a small flush if you only had to pee.

    I think some people don’t flush the toilet all night (partly because it’s noisy I guess), so you could save a lot of energy and water if you did that. It’s a bit smelly, but not so bad if you keep putting the lid down, and as long as it’s only pee of course.

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  • Jeff9

    Better still; If you want to lower the amount of toilet paper going into the sewer and harming the environment the best solution is to add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. Makes cleaning the toilet itself a breeze also. For those of us who really like to be clean it is the best invention since the toilet. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: “if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn’t wipe it off with paper, would you? You’d wash it off” Available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.com with these you won’t even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! Don’t worry, you can still leave some out for guests and can even make it the soft stuff without feeling guilty. It’s cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet. This is a green solution that saves you green at the same time.

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