Earth Day just passed this weekend, but that doesn't mean we stop showing the earth how much it mean to us. There are still numerous things you can do on campus and in your dorm room to reduce your carbon footprint and slowly but surely make the earth a better place to live for all species of life.
1. Place Plants in Your Dorm Room
Plants are a great way to remove unwanted toxins and allergens from your dorm room air and add oxygen to the atmosphere. It has also been proven that greenery in a dorm room relieves stress.
2. Actually Use the Recycling Bins Around Campus
The recycling bins were placed all around campus for a reason. It kills me when I see that someone threw something recyclable into a trashcan instead of one of the designated bins.
3. Have a Recycling Bin in Your Dorm Room
I have noticed if you have a recycling bin in your dorm room you are more likely to want to recycle because all you have to do is dump the bin when it is full.
4. Use Recycled Products Like Paper and Plastics
First of all, these products are recycled products made into something new, but they are also really cool products.
5. Don't Let the Water Run While You Are Brushing Your Teeth
Turning the water off while you are brushing your teeth can save a significant amount of water that you don't use while you are brushing.
6. Walk When You Can!
7. When You Can't Walk, Carpool
Carpooling halves the amount of cars out on the road, which in turn reduces exhaust fumes being released into the ozone layer.
8. Eat More Locally-produced Food
Local food uses significantly less amount of energy in transportation of the food and is most likely produced with less resources than the major high consumption companies like Monsanto.
9. Use Reusable Water Bottles
If you still buy packaged bottled water, you're doing the planet a major disservice. Beyond the environmental toll of the plastic waste from each 16 ounce serving, consider just how far your water was transported before you bought it in the supermarket.
10. Unplug Your Chargers When They Are Not in Use
Have you ever noticed that you charger get hot even when you aren't using it? That is because it uses energy by just being plugged into a power source. Unplug it when it is not in use to stop from using excess energy.
11. Filter Your Own Water, Rather Than Buying Bottled Water
Tap water is perfectly safe to drink, especially if you use a brita pitcher. Just keep it in your fridge and pour it into a reusable bottle everyday before you go out.
12. Eat In-season Produce
Out of season produce increases the costs of refrigeration significantly. Not surprisingly it also comes with a hefty fuel related price tag in order to get it from where it is in-season to where it is being consumed.
13. Read the News Online
This one is a no-brainer. By getting your daily fix of news online rather than in print you are saving a lot on paper printing costs.
14. Use Reusable Bags When Shopping
15. Use Cold Water When Washing Your Clothes
About 90% of the energy used in the process of washing clothes goes towards heating the water. So unless you are trying to kill all the germs on your clothes with boiling water, this could win you some green points.
