Feeling Flush

FEELING FLUSH

More people would rather live without a flushing toilet than Facebook or email a new study reveals today.

In a study of 3000 British adults by the Science Museum, more people rated their mobile phone more vital to everyday life than a shower or central heating. Google was also rated more vital than having a car.

Sunshine was voted as the top thing that Brits simply could not live without, with internet connection in second place, clean drinking water third, a fridge in fourth and Facebook in fifth place.

Other necessities to make the top ten were the National Health Service in sixth place followed by a cooker. E-mail came out in eighth place, while a flushing toilet came in ninth.  A mobile phone completed the top ten.

The study was carried out for the Science Museum’s new exhibition - Water Wars: fight the food crisis.  The exhibition highlights the urgent need for more fresh water to grow food for the world’s rising population.

Sarah Richardson, Science Museum Exhibition Manager said, “Brits are obsessed by the weather, so it’s not surprising sunshine was rated as the top thing we couldn’t live without. But to say you can’t live without material things over drinking water is crazy. It seems having fresh drinking water is something that many of us take for granted but is becoming scarcer in many parts of the world. If you see how little water others have to drink or grow food you soon realise water is fast becoming a luxury for millions.”

The new exhibition looks at five different technologies that engineers are developing to help solve the problem of water scarcity – to prevent us facing a global food crisis in the future.

Sarah Richardson continues, “Many of us don’t realise how much fresh water goes into the food we eat everyday - from vegetables to our favourite chocolate bar. It takes thirteen bath tubs to grow ingredients for just one bar of chocolate! As we import about 40 percent of our food from abroad we’re indirectly using a lot of other people’s water”.

In the poll, other items Brits said they couldn’t live without included a push-up bra, chocolate, painkillers and gym membership.

Light bulbs, disposable nappies and spell-check were also listed with the social networking site Twitter completing the top 50. The full list of items is below.

Water Wars: fight the food crisis will open at the Science Museum on 20 September and will run for nine months in Antenna, the museum’s contemporary science gallery

The survey of 3000 people was carried out by One Poll for three days over August 2011.

TOP 50 THINGS WE COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT

1. Sunshine
2. Internet connection
3. Clean drinking water
4. Fridge
5. Facebook
6. NHS
7. Cooker
8. Email
9. Flushing toilet
10. Mobile phone / smartphone
11. Tea and Coffee
12. Washing machine
13. Shower
14. Central heating
15. Painkillers
16. Fresh vegetables
17. Vacuum Cleaner
18. Kettle
19. Sofa
20. Shoes
21. Fresh fruit
22. Google
23. Car
24. Hair straighteners
25. Public transport
26. Laptop
27. Chocolate
28. DVD Player
29. Wristwatch
30. Make-up
31. Flat screen TV
32. Wedding ring
33. Tumble dryer
34. Bottled water
35. Ebay
36. Bicycle
37. Ipod
38. Air conditioning
39. Disposable nappies
40. Light bulbs
41. Spell-check
42. Sat Nav
43. Push-up bra
44. Nintendo Wii
45. iPad
46. Gym Membership
47. Season Ticket to your football club
48. Freezer
49. Xbox
50. Twitter

ENDS
 

For further information please contact, Science Museum Press Office – Nicola.ryan@sciencemuseum.org.uk / 020 7942 4328

Visitor Information:
Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD
Open daily 10.00 to 18.00, except 24-26 December
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk / 0870 870 4868