Environmental Sustainability

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December 14 , 2007

Small Steps to make the World Better

Changing Your Carbon Footprint While In College

As a college student , reducing your carbon footprint can be difficult Most of rent or live in dormitories , so the idea of replacing shower heads with low-glow models or toilets with water-saving versions is less likely than if we owned our own homes . On the flip side , because we are college students , we tend to avoid some of the big carbon footprint causes anyway . Many college

students do have a car and most of us have a roommate . Both things have drastic impacts on your budget and your carbon footprint . But we do travel a great deal more than most people with trips home for the holidays or to Florida for spring break , so there are still things that virtually every college student can do to reduce their carbon footprint . Here are some changes that I am going to make in my life and that I believe other students can do without causing themselves unnecessary hardship . I will change the way I wash clothes and buy second hand . I will recycle and use rechargeable batteries and I will sign up for electronic bill pay and call to have all my junk mail stopped

When you start to think about it , some of the thigns that are good for the planet we do reflexively as students . Most of us walk or ride the bus to school , because nobody wants to fight for parking . That automatically reduces your carbon footprint . Most of us also live with at least one roommate in a generally small space . And , the less living space you have , the smaller your carbon footprint is for heating and cooling . Then , there are the things we do as college students that mom never warned you about , but you do to save money . Remember that concept of sorting laundry by colors . Yeah , right . We 're students so the washing machine is always full when we do a load of laundry . The one thing I am going to change is I will switch over to a cold water detergent and wash my clothes in cold water . Reducing your carbon footprint by doing fewer loads of laundry is a good start reducing it further by washing them all in cold water is an added plus . As a bonus , it is likely that I will not shrink my favorite sure or dye my socks red when I use only cold water to wash my clothes

Another easy change for college students is to buy second hand furniture instead of running to Wal-Mart to furnish your dorm room or apartment Best case scenario , rent a place that is already furnished and spend the money ou would have spent on furniture on something else . If that 's not an option . Check out the local thrift stores , garage sales and second hand furniture stores . Pawn shops are also a good option . Lots of times...