As college students, it’s extremely hard to make space in our minds for anything other than schoolwork, social lives, meetings, etc. We’re all busy, so it is understandable why things that aren’t directly impactful to our lives may not even fall on our list of priorities at all. However, the topic of sustainability is something that is extremely important but significantly overlooked on college campuses. Leading sustainable lives is important, and choosing Earth-friendly options is easy to do. Lets talk about two ways to work sustainability into a busy college schedule.
- Only take the amount of food that you’ll actually eat at the dining hall and takeout services.
The amount of food the United States wastes, especially on college campuses, grows significantly every year. 40% of ALL food in America is wasted! This is not only shocking but extremely worrying for our planet! This food all goes into landfills to rot which harms our planet and shows disregard for the entire process it took for that food to get on a plate in the first place. To combat this in your everyday life, you can choose to minimize your own amount of food waste by only taking what you will eat whenever you are served food. This can be hard on college campuses, where dining halls are “all-you-can-eat” and marketing tons of different options to you, but choosing foods you know you will finish and not attempting to taste everything in the dining hall in one sitting is definitely the way to go. This is a super simple adjustment to daily life that you may already be doing!
- Avoid fast fashion, shop secondhand if you can.
For some people, shopping on certain websites that may not be the most sustainable is their only option and that is totally okay. However, if you have the means to shop secondhand (meaning many of the clothes will fit you and it is in your budget), you should! Before buying a dress from Shein, head to a local thrift shop to see what you can find. We have enough garments of clothing on our planet right now to clothe the next SIX generations of the human race. Turning your shopping habits sustainable will not only give you a more unique wardrobe filled with well-made pieces, but it will also go against the unethical practices and negative environmental impacts fast fashion has on the health of our planet. My best tip: look for Goodwill Bins stores near you! They are pay by the pound, and super cheap. Plus, it’s extremely fun to dig through clothes looking for the gems.
Though it can be intimidating to shift your lifestyle during such a busy time, these two suggestions are very minor tweaks to everyday habits that will make a major impact. Not only will the environment heal a little bit from your contribution, but you can feel good about leading a sustainable lifestyle even when we are so limited by college culture. Now get out there and do your planet good!