To Bidet or Not to Bidet

Us Americans aren’t bidet users. I imagine most Americans don’t even know what a bidet is. I can’t use the one in my bathroom, because the water is scalding hot. We’re talking injurious heat. So it sits there – or sat there until Sunday after the bathroom poopfest. It became handy in cleaning the floor and the walls. As I discovered, it has much better water pressure than the shower. But hot, hot, hot!

The bathroom flooded again yesterday. This time it only two the maintenance guy two hours to unclog the drain. The disgusting mess was not as bad as on Sunday, and it didn’t flow into my bedroom this time, but it was still gross and I had to clean the bathroom again. The guy didn’t call a plumber so I’m just waiting for it to happen again.

I've always thought it strange that most of the world uses bidets but Americans don't even know what they are. Just google "Americans and Bidets" and you'll find article after article asking why Americans don't use bidets.

Bidets are more hygienic and better for the environment.

Justin Thomas, editor of the website metaefficient.com, considers bidets to be “a key green technology” because they eliminate the use of toilet paper. According to his analysis, Americans use 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper every year, representing the pulping of some 15 million trees. Says Thomas: “This also involves 473,587,500,000 gallons of water to produce the paper and 253,000 tons of chlorine for bleaching.” He adds that manufacturing requires about 17.3 terawatts of electricity annually and that significant amounts of energy and materials are used in packaging and in transportation to retail outlets.

So there you have it.