With so much hype surrounding recycling, green products, and sustainable businesses, you might think it’ll be just another short-lived fad. Think again! Reducing your carbon footprint isn’t just about buying that snack bag made from corn or tossing a water bottle into the recycle bin, it’s about the
choices you make on a daily basis to make an impact on your local, and ultimately global, community. Here are a few simple ways to kick-start your green lifestyle:
Shun Single Serving Sizes
While they’re portion-sized and portable, individually wrapped foods and drinks are terrible for the environment. A few familiar culprits of this kind of packaging are small juice boxes, yogurt cups, individually wrapped cheese slices, fruit snacks, and candy. Buying food and drinks in larger containers eliminates the high package-to-product ratio and is often cheaper.
Chobani Greek Yogurt 6-ounce cups: $1.00
Cabot Greek Yogurt 32-ounce container: $3.99
Benefit: the reward is two-fold! You save money, and when you buy Cabot products, 100% of the profits go directly to family farmers, who pledge not to use artificial growth hormones such as rBST.
Go Green with Caffeine
Most paper coffee cups are made from new paper because recycled paper isn’t strong enough to hold liquid, especially hot coffee. Even less eco-friendly is Styrofoam, which never decomposes. To keep paper and Styrofoam out of landfills, bring your own travel mug for your next on-the-go cup-o’-Joe or on your next coffee date.
Grande Skinny Caramel Macchiato in a paper cup: $4.55
Grande Skinny Caramel Macchiato in a reusable mug: $4.45
Benefit: when you bring a reusable mug, Starbucks gives you a 10-cent discount on any drink, hot or iced! While that may not seem like much initially, it adds up over time. Every 10 cents saved is one less paper cup used. Save money and trees!
Get E-Friendly: Choose Electronic, Paperless Options
Believe it or not, you may already be greener than you think! If used wisely, your laptop can help you live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Just make sure you unplug all unused appliances when you go to bed, to let your electricity bill and your computer get some sleep too. Here are some ways to go paperless:
Request E-Statements. Ask for electronic bank statements, cell phone bills, and electricity bills if your service provider allows it. It’s convenient to check your balances and pay bills online, and you’ll never lose a bill in the mail!
Type Your Notes. Bring your laptop to class and jot down notes on note-taking software instead of paper. Programs like Microsoft OneNote and Google Notebook allow you to organize your notes and keep assignments in one place.
Choose Tree-Free. If you work in an office or need to use paper frequently, request that recycled paper be used in copiers and printers. Post-consumer materials are widely available and recycled paper uses much less energy to produce than new paper.
Dorm Dwellers: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
You may have given up being eco-friendly if you live in a dorm. Endless hot water, all-you-can-eat dining halls, and someone else’s electricity bill, right? Not so fast! A few green changes can help out your waistline, your wallet, and the Earth! It’s easy being green if you live in the residence halls. To get you started:
Reduce. When you forgo a tray at the dining hall, you end up taking less food. This is a great strategy to avoid the freshman fifteen, and it also saves energy and water needed to wash the trays. Another way to save water is by cutting down shower time. Long, hot showers zap moisture from your skin and hair, especially in dry, Maine winters. And on laundry day, wash a full load and set the cycle to cold. You’ll get your money’s worth and extend the life of your clothes!
Reuse. In your dorm room, use ceramic dishes and silverware instead of single-use plastic utensils or Styrofoam plates. Invest in a dishtowel for quick clean-ups instead of wasteful paper towels. You’ll save space in your dorm room and in a landfill!
Recycle. Take advantage of your dorm’s recycling system! Every residence hall has conveniently placed recycling bins for paper, cardboard, returnable bottles, glass, tin, #2 plastics, batteries, ink cartridges, and plastic bags.
Images from EthicalSuperstore.com, LivingtheAmericanGreen.org, UMaine.edu