This article was written in collaboration with Her Campus at Boston College.
Making eco-conscious choices doesn’t have to entail a massive lifestyle change. It’s incredibly easy to incorporate sustainable practices into your daily routine—and small changes like these can mean a big difference for our planet. Keep reading to find simple ways to be more environmentally-minded, on Earth Day and every day.
Use a reusable water bottle.
On average, humans should be drinking about 4 bottles of water a day. With a reusable water bottle, that is 4 less bottles every day that you are saving by refilling your bottle. With water refill fountains located in virtually every building on campus, using a reusable bottle is an easy habit to sustain.
Turn the water off when you are brushing your teeth.
Do you really need the water running the whole two minutes that you are brushing your teeth?
Recycle!
When recycling, make sure that you do not put your recyclables in a plastic bag, as they can’t be recycled like bottles are. With Bentley’s zero-sort recycling, disposing of your paper and plastic sustainably is just as easy as taking out the trash.
Turn off the lights when you don’t need them!
During the day, natural sunlight is more than enough light to do simple tasks. If you leave the room when no one else is in there, turn the lights off.
No plastic straws!
Straws do not get recycled, so millions of straws are disposed of daily. Besides, do you actually need it?
Don’t print everything.
Yes, some things are needed in paper form—but not everything. With technology so advanced these days, it is usually much easier to store things on your phone or laptop anyway.
Carpool or take public transportation.
Less cars on the road = less pollution. Take advantage of the Bentley shuttles going both around campus and to Harvard Square—plus, it’ll save you the inevitable hassle of finding a good parking spot.