While you would be hard pressed to find a Brown student who admits total ambivalence to questions of environmental sustainability, many of us are doing far less than we should to protect the environment. Sure you believe in being “green,” whatever that means, but are you absolutely sure you recycled that wine bottle from late last night? When’s the last time you made a dinner decision based on the carbon footprint of each item on your plate? Have you even remotely considered starting a compost pile in your backyard, whether at home or in that Solo-cup littered patch of grass behind your off-campus house?
If you’re nodding your head in response to these questions, wondering how anyone could be so selfish as to not do these things, good for you – you’re making the rest of us look pretty bad in comparison. There are certainly students on campus who go above and beyond the call of duty as far as preserving our environment is concerned (I know at least one peer currently practicing freeganism – the practice of preventing resource waste and environmental degradation by eating food that has been discarded by restaurants, farms, homes, etc.) However, the sad reality is that while all of us been exposed to discussions about environmental issues and really should know better, our day-to-day practices rarely reflect our stated support of environmental sustainability.
While some of us will dedicate our lives and careers to organizing community initiatives aimed at preventing resource waste or advocating for changes in federal environmental policy, many of us will not. Even if there are issues you feel more strongly about than sustainability, there’s no reason not to make a few small changes to your daily routine that could at least slightly lessen your negative impact on the environment – and promote the wellbeing of your own body and bank account balance as well!
1. Recycle. Just do it.
While the efficacy of United States recycling programs is not beyond criticism, choosing to recycle your empty containers and paper products will always be better than simply throwing them away. Many of us seek to extricate ourselves from the responsibility of recycling by questioning whether our recyclables are really recycled, or if recycling even makes sense. New York Times writer John Tierney’s 1996 story “Recycling is Garbage” did much to legitimize these claims. However, while Tierney’s criticism of government recycling programs may have been true in the 1990s, there have been significant improvements in recycling technology and processes since then. We’re all busy but really, no one is too busy to take an extra split second to put that recyclable in the right bin.
2. Don’t Use Plastic Bags
The plastic bags store clerks hand out for every tiny, individual purchase are terrible for the environment. You already know this, but here are some stats that might convince you to actually kick that bad plastic bag habit. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the number of plastic bags used worldwide each year rests somewhere between five hundred billion and a trillion. That’s pretty ridiculous. Even worse is the fact that millions of these non-biodegradable bags end up not in the trash, but in oceans, rivers, and wildlife habitats.
Don’t think you’re off the hook if you ask for paper bags instead of plastic ones. Statistics published by the National Cooperative Grocers Association state that Americans consume ten billion paper grocery bags each year – that’s fourteen million fewer trees that are producing oxygen and supporting our world’s ecosystems. Although paper bags do degrade, unlike plastic bags, the correct choice when choosing between paper and plastic is always neither. Bring your own bags to the store – they’re cuter, less likely to break under the weight of your culinary goodies, and so, so, so much better for the environment.
3. Eat less meat
If you eat in the Ratty, with its bland-tasting meat that often eludes identification as the product of a specific animal, you may already find yourself edging towards vegetarianism. If, however, you need another reason to eat less meat, consider the environmental costs of that burger. Raising cattle requires vast amounts of land, water and energy, not to mention the fact that cattle expel a significantly larger amount of methane than other livestock. This phenomenon is both highly unsavory to dwell on, and a significant contributing factor to global warming. Michael Pollan’s approach to sustainable eating, outlined in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, is by no means uncontroversial. However, it’s pretty impossible to feel really good about picking steak over vegetables when we consider his claim that Americans going without meat just one night a week would be equivalent to taking thirty to forty million cars off the road.
4. Turn down the heat.
Our relationship with the thermostat is more often than not a very selfish one. If you live in the dorms or are lucky enough to inhabit a utilities-included apartment, you probably don’t even hesitate to crank up that little knob. This is wrong because, firstly, there is definitely someone somewhere who is in fact paying that ridiculous heating bill. Secondly, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the energy we use to heat our living spaces represents thirty percent of domestic energy consumption in the United States, and a large portion of our overall carbon emissions. Turning down your thermostat just one or two degrees will reduce your heating bill by as much as ten percent and significantly cut your carbon emissions. Break out those cozy wool sweaters, boil yourself some tea, and start feeling good about your commitment to saving more money, and promoting environmental sustainability.
5. Use cold water for your laundry.
There are pressing reasons to hit that cold water button on the washing machine other than a desire to keep your black jeans really, really black. According to Treehugger.com, a website committed to making sustainability more mainstream, ninety percent of the energy it takes to wash your clothes goes towards heating the water. If you use hot water for every load of laundry you do this year, you will be consuming the same amount of energy it takes to drive a car 3,600 miles – that’s more than the distance from Providence to San Francisco. So, if you want to significantly lessen the amount of energy you waste (and save some significant bucks on the utilities bill), press the cold water button and buy some eco-friendly laundry detergent that cleans really well at lower temperatures. Your clothes will be brighter, your wallet will be thicker, and the environment will be better off as well.