Biochemistry wk 13 - Living Diversity

".. the human species is living as if it had more than one planet to occupy ..."

I think this is a very ethnocentric view of the human species.  I think not all of human kind is living this way, I do however believe that enough humans are living beyond the means of the planet to have a dire effect.  I don't know the exact numbers, so I did a quick Google search on what percentage of the world resources does the US use.  What I found is that in 2007 while the US is 5% of the worlds population we use 24% of the worlds power.  The following image is a pretty good example of how much energy the US uses, comparing each state to other nations that have equal energy use.




The amount of consumption that happens every year by our nation alone is quite thoughtless of the amount of resources available for future generations.  The future better hope that there's resources that haven't been leveraged yet, because this rate of consumption is not sustainable.

Let's change gears and continue the conversation about restroom hand dryers for a moment.  The concern is that hand dryers recirculate contaminated air from the bathroom and that freshly washed hands will no longer be clean if they are blown air dried.  I think that everyone needs to step back a moment and stop trying to create a sterile living environment.  I hesitate to see the purpose of painstakingly creating a perfected clean hand drying system when our hands come into contact with dirty items constantly.  For example paper money.  Working for years as a cashier in a number of retail environments, I have seen bills speckled with dried blood, bills pulled from sweaty bra's and socks.  I used to have a significant other that worked at a porn shop making changes for Jack Off's (my term) to use in the video arcade, how many different bodily fluids do you think those dollars came into contact with?  And the money just gets circulated around and around.  It's common to lick the tip of your fingers to get a better grip when counting a number of bills at a time....

Just let that sink in.

I realize I have digressed.  To get back to the point of public bathrooms.  I've got a harm reductionist view.  I think it's best to have the greatest number of people wash their hands after using the bathroom, so I think having a quick and easily accessible sink and available hand drying option is key.  I think in environments where there is a higher chance of having diseases transmitted in a restroom, for example in a hospital or at airport, these locations should have restrooms where there is a higher degree of cleanliness maintained.  This could include HEPA filters over the toilet stall areas as well as built into the dries, hands free sinks, not having a handled door at the entrance, ect.  There are more than one best practice to put into place let's not just blame it all on the dries, ok.