College students (including myself!) often find themselves too busy studying for tests and writing papers to think about their ecological footprint. However, there are a ton of quick and easy ways you can help the environment while living at college.
Taking Less and Shorter Showers
I know when I came to college, I was definitely excited about being able to take a long shower without having to worry about my dad telling me otherwise. In reality, you don’t need to take a 20 minute shower or take a shower more than once a day. Try taking a few minutes off your shower time and you’ll realize how much time you actually need and waste a lot less water.
Reusable Utensils!
We all have those days where we get back late to our dorms and our friends have already eaten without us. If you’re going to get take out, try bringing your own containers and utensils. You waste less paper and plastic, and honestly it can make eating a lot more fun. I use these colorful forks from IKEA (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90192962/) that also make it easy to give a set to a friend!
Washcloths?
It may seem like an old-fashioned method, but instead of wasting paper towels and Lysol wipes to clean up water, dust, and crumbs, use a washcloth. It can also be a great replacement for drying your hands. They can be reused and can be thrown in the wash with your laundry.
Laundry
Doing laundry at college can be a HUGE adjustment. More loads of laundry can add up! Try to cut corners where you can by washing clothes that can be washed together. Also 60 minutes on the dryers?? Way too long. Put a timer on for 30 minutes and take out one load of laundry and switch it out for another to save more money AND energy.
Leaving the Lights Off
During the day you don’t always need to have lights on in your room. One of my favorite things to do in place of turning the lights on is to open the window shade. It brings in a lot of natural light and can make your space a lot more peaceful to work in.
Forget what people say about being a tree hugger. With these tips and a succulent or two, you can make being green look like a literal ~breeze~.