As a former Environmental Science Major and current Natural Resources Conservation Major, sustainability is something that comes up in my life practically every day. Whether it’s a class assignment, research paper, or Her Campus article, I tend to think about, write about, and research environmental issues and sustainability frequently. When given free range in a research project, I always come back to environmental issues. However, even with devoting all of this time towards learning about the environment and sustainability, the age-old question still remains: how can I actually make an impact as one individual person?
It can be especially hard to make sustainable decisions while in college, when a lot of your lifestyle choices are made by others. You may not be able to control the heating and cooling systems, methods of electricity, or the food served in the dining hall, but there are still other ways to be sustainable in college.
Limit Single Use Products
It is widely known that plastic and other single-use products are harmful to the environment, but most of us still produce single-use waste nearly every day. In fact, nearly 300 million tons of it is produced annually. In our society, single-use plastics are hard to avoid altogether, but there are small ways to reduce your individual usage. Some of the easiest ways, especially as a college student, are using a reusable water bottle, avoiding products that come in plastic packaging, and being smart about what you buy and what materials they are made from.
Personally, I have been using the same metal water bottle for years, but I still fall victim to single-use cups, particularly in the dining hall. While I’m not an avid coffee drinker, I love tea, and it is extremely accessible in the UMass dining halls. However, everytime I get it I use a disposable cup. This is something I barely even think about, but over time this waste accumulates significantly. Getting a reusable tumbler for hot drinks is the simplest way to reduce single-use cups without changing your lifestyle too much. The fight against plastic and single use water bottles is extremely prominent, but coffee cups and tea cups are often not held to as high of an importance, when they are in fact still a significant issue that can be easily tackled.
Diet
As the title of this article suggests, cutting out meat and dairy products isn’t the only way to live sustainably, and it also isn’t the only way to keep a sustainable diet.
When I came to college I naturally started limiting my red meat and poultry intake, mostly due to preference, but partially due to my previous knowledge about the harmfulness of the meat industry. I’ve noticed that it is relatively easy to make sustainable dietary choices on campus. Between the vegan section in the dining halls and locally grown produce, there are a lot of ways to eat sustainably on campus. Additionally, the UMass dining app and website have sections that give a ranking of how sustainable certain food options are. Even if you aren’t vegan or vegetarian, utilizing these options can allow you to still eat sustainably.
On top of choosing what you eat, it’s also important to think about what you aren’t eating. Food waste is a huge environmental issue, and it can be especially tricky when it comes to the dining hall. It’s so easy to take food and then just throw it away, so being mindful about the amount of food you take versus how much you will actually eat is the simplest and most efficient way to limit your own personal food waste.
Fashion Choices
Buying secondhand or avoiding buying new clothes in general is an extremely beneficial way in reducing carbon emissions, seeing as the clothing industry is actually responsible for around 10% of global carbon emissions. Don’t get me wrong, I love shopping and buying clothes, but I have found that purchasing clothes secondhand can be just as rewarding as buying something new. It may take a little more searching to find what you want, but it makes it that much more exciting when you find what you’re looking for. This isn’t just limited to thrift stores, but online sites like Depop and local farmers markets are great places to find clothing pieces.
Living sustainably doesn’t have to require drastic lifestyle changes, even small actions can lead to big differences. If you start small, such as avoiding single-use cups one day of the week, you can work up to larger, more significant changes, like avoiding single-use cups every day. Small changes can have big impacts, and it’s important to not ignore sustainable options that may seem insignificant, because in the end those choices may lead to large changes.
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