The Governator made press recently by discussing his autocratic policies at home, which include limiting his children's showers to five minutes, and cutting the hot water off mid-stream if they take too long. These laudable policies, described at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco during an event celebrating the third anniversary of a law mandating a cap on California's greenhouse gas emissions, were apparently borne of a childhood in post-WWII Europe, in which water and other resources were scarce. You had to be frugal.
“We were taught to always switch off the light when you go and leave the room, and that you can only use water sparingly or to drink,” the Governor said, as quoted in the New York Times, “That’s it. Not to waste any water, period. So it’s a totally different atmosphere.”
Truth be told, water is probably more scarce today than it was in post-WWII Europe; it's just that we often forget that fact. So we commend Mr. Schwarzenegger's conservation efforts, although we would point out that developments in water-flow technology have reached a point where you can run a faucet, or enjoy a nice long shower (still, 5 minutes max, of course), without fear of wreaking havoc on the Sacramento-San Joaquin or any other delta.
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