In a time when many college students are thinking about moving out of their parent’s houses into their own place, it’s important to understand what can be done to be environmentally friendly. There are many options to being more conscious of our actions, beginning in college when faced with making decisions on our own. It really can become a lifestyle of better habits and potentially changing how colleges recycle and the products they use.
First Things First: What is “Going Green”?
This has become a buzz word over the last few years with the popularity of being more environmentally conscious. In going green, people are making an effort to look at their lifestyle and see how they can change it in order to help the world. This is something easy that people can do, looking at their impact and seeing where they can alter habits and try to start new ones.
How do you really do this?
We’ve all seen magazine articles, websites, blogs and been told by people how to be more environmentally conscious, but is it really that easy? And does it really do that much to help the world and the state it’s in?
In researching this and wondering where I could improve my life, I realized there are a lot of little things that I could do daily to help the world. I also realized doing this is a lot harder than you would think. Habits are hard to break, no matter what they are, and starting new ones takes a lot of effort and note cards to remind you to grab your water bottle. Majority of the time it’s hard for me to get out of the house with everything I need, let alone my reusable water bottle, coffee mug and shopping bag.
It seems counter-productive to use so many note cards to remind yourself to do something (unless you’re recycling them). I’ve found the age old trick of packing your bag the night before, making things visible and carrying a spare in your car to be the best trick. Even doing this there will be days when I forget a water bottle or go to the grocery store and realize I don’t have a bag, but over enough time it has become more common for me to do.
Besides reusable products, there are other ways to decrease your waste. One of the biggest things you can do both at home and at school is recycling. College campuses are offering more and more recycling opportunities for paper, plastic, even printer cartridges. This can stretch even further by using both sides of your paper. If at the end of the semester you have a lot of extra papers you could recycle them, or use them to print. Rough drafts often don’t need to be on clean paper or single sided, save that until the final.
The next few things are pretty easy to do. Turning down the thermostat in your house, paying bills online, washing clothes in cold or warm water and buying local can all help your impact on the environment. One that’s a little less known is unplugging chargers (phone, computer, music device) because they still consumer energy while plugged in.
Another great thing to do is buy local. This way the product is going right from the producer to the consumer, offering extremely fresh produce, breads and flowers. Farmers markets also support local business.
One of my favorites is buy some plants. They add some life to an apartment or small living space but they can also help purify the air and get rid of the pollutants in the air. They also make great gifts for people.
First Things First: What is “Going Green”?
This has become a buzz word over the last few years with the popularity of being more environmentally conscious. In going green, people are making an effort to look at their lifestyle and see how they can change it in order to help the world. This is something easy that people can do, looking at their impact and seeing where they can alter habits and try to start new ones.
How do you really do this?
We’ve all seen magazine articles, websites, blogs and been told by people how to be more environmentally conscious, but is it really that easy? And does it really do that much to help the world and the state it’s in?
In researching this and wondering where I could improve my life, I realized there are a lot of little things that I could do daily to help the world. I also realized doing this is a lot harder than you would think. Habits are hard to break, no matter what they are, and starting new ones takes a lot of effort and note cards to remind you to grab your water bottle. Majority of the time it’s hard for me to get out of the house with everything I need, let alone my reusable water bottle, coffee mug and shopping bag.
It seems counter-productive to use so many note cards to remind yourself to do something (unless you’re recycling them). I’ve found the age old trick of packing your bag the night before, making things visible and carrying a spare in your car to be the best trick. Even doing this there will be days when I forget a water bottle or go to the grocery store and realize I don’t have a bag, but over enough time it has become more common for me to do.
Besides reusable products, there are other ways to decrease your waste. One of the biggest things you can do both at home and at school is recycling. College campuses are offering more and more recycling opportunities for paper, plastic, even printer cartridges. This can stretch even further by using both sides of your paper. If at the end of the semester you have a lot of extra papers you could recycle them, or use them to print. Rough drafts often don’t need to be on clean paper or single sided, save that until the final.
The next few things are pretty easy to do. Turning down the thermostat in your house, paying bills online, washing clothes in cold or warm water and buying local can all help your impact on the environment. One that’s a little less known is unplugging chargers (phone, computer, music device) because they still consumer energy while plugged in.
Another great thing to do is buy local. This way the product is going right from the producer to the consumer, offering extremely fresh produce, breads and flowers. Farmers markets also support local business.
One of my favorites is buy some plants. They add some life to an apartment or small living space but they can also help purify the air and get rid of the pollutants in the air. They also make great gifts for people.
Is it really practical?
In my own life I realize that I consume a lot of water and coffee throughout my day. In filling up my own water bottle, I don’t have to spend money each day to buy bottles of water. Keeping a reusable coffee mug has been a bit of a challenge. I try to get coffee to drink at a café so a disposable cup isn’t necessary, but sometimes this isn’t the case. In bringing your own coffee mug to your favorite café you can often-times get discounts on your drinks, and in college, every extra cent helps.
In using both sides of a sheet of paper, you will save money on printer paper. Just as with the other suggestions, like lowering the thermostat and unplugging chargers. It might take time to get used to doing these things, but isn’t saving money and the environment worth it? Plants not only allow you a way to add life to your apartment, you can also gain benefits from them and eventually plant them in a yard.
Finally, buying local is a great thing to do in college. If your town, or neighboring town, offers a farmers market, it lets you get the freshest produce from the region while supporting local business. Also, it gets you out into town, exploring and meeting new people.
Advertisements and Campaigns
As a popular topic, going green, recycling and being sustainable have amassed a following through their advertising and campaigns. I know I’ve seen advertisements for years about reusable this, reusable that, but never really knew what good it would do until now. Now-a-days advertisement campaigns give you facts, stats and pictures of the product, showing exactly how you help the environment with your purchase.
They use great rhetoric in persuading us to buy. They use catchy slogans, bright colors, little text and offer a website to research more. They often offer a free item, like a reusable bag, to entice people to buy their product. With so many products to choose from, the extra research about the item is often necessary to ensure you’re getting what’s being advertised. Unless it’s an established name, and even then, you have to make sure you’re paying for what they tell you they are, and not simply a name.
Getting Started
There’s no fool-proof plan to “going green” all you can do is try to alter your ways of thinking about consumption. Getting a water bottle, coffee mug, reusable bag, whatever you know you use and making an effort to use them is where it starts. Sure it’s a little more brain power to remember things, but once you’re in the habit it’s done, you have it there forever. Also, watching your electricity usage and adding some plants to your décor will all help you in the long run.
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