Great Ways to Go Green!

The goal of this guide is to take you on a walk through a typical day of a college student.  Along the journey it will provide you with simple steps you can take to make your own life a little greener so that you can do your part in helping not only the PLU community, but our planet as well.  Some of these you may think are basic or dumb, and others may surprise you, but please challenge yourself to make a difference.  If each of our students picked just three things from this list that they don't already do it could have a substantial impact on PLU's ecological footprint.

Beep... Beep...Beep...

It's right around 7:30 and your alarm screams at you to roll out of bed.  As you begin to stumble groggily around your room trying not to wake your roommate, you manage to grab your towel and flip flops for the shower.  People tend to start their day getting ready in the bathroom, which makes it the perfect place to start living in a more sustainable way. 

The Bathroom

Most people don't realize it, but the bathroom is one place where you can dramatically reduce your impact on the earth.  Here are just a few of the things you can do...

• Typically you are supposed to brush your teeth for at least two minutes.  Imagine how much water you could save every day if you turned the water off until you had to spit and rinse.  By doing this, each day you could save 14 gallons of water which, trust me, adds up.¹

• Most of, if not all of the soap at PLU is foaming hand soap.  Foaming hand soap means that you don't have to lather up your hands when you go to wash them.  Rather than running the water while you get your hands ready turn it on when you need to rinse them off.

Avoid Paper Towels

• If possible try and use electronic hand dryers rather than paper towels that are produced by cutting down trees.  If paper towels are the only option try using less.  Often times we don't think about how many paper towels we really need and end up grabbing 5 or 6, half of which don't even see a drop of water.

Take shorter showers

• An average shower wastes 5-10 gallons of water every minute.²  Rather than spending half of your morning in the shower see how short you can make them.  Try making it a game.  If you took a 7 minute shower Monday, look for ways to cut it down to 6 on Tuesday.  A good goal for length of a shower is around 4 minutes.  I know that seems fast, but I bet you could do it.  For an added incentive, think how much extra time you could be sleeping rather than wasting water in the shower. 

Already take short showers?

• It doesn't take water to put shampoo or conditioner in your hair or to scrub yourself with soap.  Try turning off the water in between sudding up.
• Not ready to turn off the water?  Try taking a shower every other day.  You can also consider alternating days of washing your hair which will cut quite a bit of time off of your shower.
• For your home away from PLU, try to convince your parents to install low flow shower heads.  Low flow shower heads still produce water power like a normal shower head, but can save up to 9,500 gallons of water a year!  Not only does that dramatically cut down your consumption of water, but it can save you an average of $185 on your water and energy bill.³ (some even have a pause feature to turn off the water in between soap and shampoo... pretty cool idea)  Low flow shower heads sell anywhere from $12-$100.  If you are interested here is a link to where you can find them: http://www.showerheadstore.com/

Avoid Baths

• It takes around 25 gallons of water to fill a standard bath tub only half way.⁴  If that doesn't make you cringe just think about taking a bath... you are basically soaking in the stuff you are trying to clean off, gross.

Avoid Damaging Products

• Certain companies like Kimberly-Clark, the manufacturer of Kleenex, Scott, Cottenelle, and Viva, do not have policies on using recycled materials.  In fact, Kimberly-Clark, in order to make a softer tissue, is actually destroying one of the last ancient Boreal forests in the world.  When buying things like paper towels, tissues, toilet paper, etc. make sure to read labels and look for recycled materials. 
• Interested in the Kimberly-Clark controversy?  Check out: http://www.kleercut.net/en/

    Now that you are all clean, your teeth are sparkling, and you have saved some water, you are ready to start the day.  You head back to your room and scramble through the closet.  Almost unconsciously you scramble through your piles of outfits in hopes of finding just the right one for today.  Clothing is and always will be a major part of our lives. Did you know there are things to do to even make your closet a greener part of your life.

Donate Old Clothes

• Think about how much space all of you old clothes would take up in our already over crowded landfills, not to mention how long it would take for most of it to break down and decompose.  By donating your old clothes, not only are you reducing your waste and your impact on the earth, but you are helping out someone in need.
• Try purchasing a few used t-shirts.  Some places like Value-Village have some good stuff if you actually look.  Buying used clothes means they won't go to the landfills either.

Read your labels

• Look for clothes made out of organic materials.  Organic fibers break down and decompose easier than other fibers that most clothes are typically made out of.  Not only that, but things like cotton that aren't grown organically are grown with an immense amount of chemicals that are released into the air in order to ensure a crop large enough to produce more clothing.    
• Look for clothes that are local.  Buying locally reduces how much energy it takes to transport the clothes from where they are produced. 
• Try to avoid polyester.  Polyester is made with petroleum.  Petroleum is derived from crude oil which must be drilled, produced, and burnt to release the materials that can be captured to be transformed into the petroleum.  This very messy process releases a large amount of harmful gases into the environment helping to promote climate change. ⁵

Dress for the season

• Say its winter and your house is pretty cold.  By dressing warmer you can keep the thermostat down.  By not raising the temperature you are using a lot less heat.  An extra sweatshirt or pair of socks is way better than wasting all that energy.

Only do laundry when you have to

• Make sure that you wait until you have a full load of clothes.  Rather than wasting a whole load of laundry on a few pieces of clothes, try and save some water by waiting until you have more to do.
• Re-wear clothes.  Wearing a t-shirt to class and back doesn't mean it's dirty.  Try to wear your clothes a few times before you throw them in the laundry if they aren't really in need of a wash.
• Wash your clothes with cold water.  It takes a lot of energy to heat water for the washing machine.  Try and conserve a little by using the cold water setting on the washer.
• Try to dry your clothes on a clothes rack or on hangers rather than using the dryer.  I know it's hard to do in the dorms, but think about all the energy you could save if you weren't running the dryer.

    Now that you're all dressed up and sprinting out the door to make it to class on time, you gather up you're homework and throw it all into your back pack.  There are tons of ways to green up your dorm/school life but let's start with the school work.

Print Less

• Think aboutbringing your laptop to class if you have to print off a reading assignment. 
• Print papers double sided.  Check with your professor first to make sure they don't mind, but why would they say no to helping the environment?
• Do revisions on your computer if you can rather than printing it out on paper you won't be turning in.

Turn off your laptop

• Just because you aren't using your computer doesn't mean it isn't using energy.  When you head to class, go to practice, and especially when you go to bed try and make sure that you turn your computer off.  Don't stop at the computer either.  There are probably a few more appliances around your room that are quietly sucking up energy.  Video games, hair dryers, even cell phone chargers require quite a bit of energy.  If you aren't using it just unplug it or turn it off.

Use Energy efficient light bulbs

• CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) use 75% less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs.  Not only that, but they save you $30 dollars in electricity over their life time and pay for themselves after just 6 months of using them.  Imagine your savings if you replaced all of your bulbs with CFLs.  If you want to make it happen check out: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
• Already have CFls?  Try using natural day light more than indoor lighting.  Open your blinds and windows.  Daylight is a great way to reduce your energy bill, and it's also a great way to get the vitamin D that you're supposed to be taking in each day.

Recycle old appliances

• Appliances tend to be big and bulky, and when we're done with them or they aren't working right any more, most people send them to the dump.  What most don't know is that most of our daily appliances can almost be completely recycled and either made into new products, or fixed and given to someone in need.  For example, 94% of an old refrigerator can be broken down and reused.  Imagine how much space we could save at the landfill without all of those old appliances piling up.
• If you have old appliances that you could recycle Tacoma Power has a recycling service for our area.  You can find them at: http://www.mytpu.org/

   Now you're running late for class and think about how you are going to get there.  Your every day commute is one of the best ways to make a difference. 

Ride your bike

• Riding a bike over driving isn't just better for your health.  Behind meat, the transportation industry is the second largest contributor to America's green house gas production.⁶  The U.S. alone is responsible for 25% of the world's carbon emissions, a number that we need to reduce.  A six mile car ride creates around 5 pounds of pollution.  By riding your bike you are taking one more carbon emitting car off the road. ⁷

Ride the Bus or Carpool

• If you can't get to your destination on a bike, public transportation or carpooling means fewer cars on the road.  Find a friend that is going the same direction and bring them with you, or both of you could hop on the bus.  The bus may take a minute or two longer, but it means you aren't busy driving.  Bring a book, some tunes, or even homework and get something done on the way.
• Sound Transit is the community transit provider for our area.  Check out their trip planner to get to where you need to go: http://www.soundtransit.org/

   Class was pretty good, but after all that learning you're pretty hungry.  Off to the grocery store to grab some stuff to eat.  Even you're grocery shopping can get green with a little work.  Take a look at some of these ideas.

Use reusable grocery bags

• California alone distributes 180 million plastic grocery bags.⁸  The vast majority of our the plastic bags that Americans use end up in our over flowing landfills.  Some make their way into the ocean where they are beginning to accumulate to form islands of floating garbage, and only a few get reused as something else.
• Can't remember your bags?  Try leaving two in your car so you will always have them.
• You can buy reusable grocery bags at any grocery store for about $1.

Buy less packaging and more food

• Most foods come in a box, then in plastic, then in another wrapper, and on and on.  Look for foods without all the packaging that would normally be tossed into the garbage. 
• A good way to do that is buy in bulk.  Buying in bulk means more food and less packaging.  It also tends to save you quite a bit on your grocery bill.
• As much as possible try to avoid plastic bottles which also tend to make their way to the landfill.

Buy local food

• Like clothing, food tends to travel a really long way before it makes it to your plate.  It takes a lot of fuel to get food from one country to another or even just from one side of the U.S. to the other.  Purchasing local food helps the planet and supports local agriculture
• CSA or community supported agriculture is an awesome way to purchase local food.  CSAs are local farms that you buy stake into.  You pay a certain amount a month, and then you get to go to the farm and pick a box full of whatever kind of produce they have at the time. 
• We are very lucky to have a CSA very close to us.  If joining a CSA is something that you would like to look into check out: http://www.terrysberries.com/
• Farmer's Markets are a great way to get local food.  Some students at Seattle University have done research looking into farmer's market prices and even found that the food at market's can save you money.  Here is a link to their study: http://www.farmersmarketcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/rlib/S_Jones_Price_Summary_2009.pdf
• For a list of some local food markets head to: http://www.tacomafarmersmarket.com/

Bring a mug, cup or bottle with you

• Rather than buying a coffee with a cup bring a mug.  It saves another cardboard cup from being thrown out.
• Use your Take Back the Tap water bottle rather than buying plastic water bottles.  If water is too boring for you try adding flavor over purchasing pop or gaterade that comes in plastic.
• With our Take Back the Tap efforts alone, PLU managed to reduce our sales of plastic water bottles on campus by 35% on 1 liter bottles and 22.4% for 20 oz bottles.  Keep up the good work.

Grow a small garden

• How much more local can you get than your front yard?  On top of the pleasure you get from putting work into your own food, gardens are a perfect for living sustainably. 
• Interested in gardening but don't really know where to start? Check out PLU's community garden.  They have work parties every Sunday from 12-3 p.m. or you can see more here: http://www.plu.edu/~garden/

Eat less red meat

• The U.S. beef industry is now considered America's largest contributor to our CO² emissions.  If you thought driving your car was bad look into the beef industry.
• Not only that, but it takes ten pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef.  If an average cow weighs around 1,300 pounds it would take over 13,000 pounds of grain to raise it.  Imagine how many other things you could make, from cereal to bread with all of that grain which people aren't even consuming.
• In fact, if America reduced its factory farmed meat consumption by 1/5, it would be the same effect on global warming as every American instantly swapping their cars for Priuses.
• For more information on the Beef industries greenhouse gas contributions head to: http://www.lavidalocavore.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1605

   You get your food home and figure out what you want to eat.  As you prepare your meal you start to notice that between the stuff you just bought and how you are cooking it there is a bit of waste starting to pile up.  Another place to reduce your impact on the earth is your garbage.  Seems pretty obvious, but it may not be that easy.  Give these ideas a try and see if it makes a difference.

Recycle as much as possible

• Sometimes we don't even realize that the things we are throwing out are actually recyclable.  Make sure to check labels to see if you can recycle.
• Reuse things. Things like yogurt containers make great tupper ware that can be reused multiple times before it ever has to go to the recycle bin.  Think about washing out plastic baggies and trying to use them more than once.  Or try not using plastic bags at all.  Tupper ware comes in all shapes and sizes.  Get creative and reuse as much as you can.

• Parkland does not have a glass recycling service.  I know this is outrageous to a lot of our students.  We are in the process of establishing a student run glass recycling program for off campus students which we hope will be up and running early this coming school year. 
• If you are interested in the glass recycling program or would like to get involved please email me at: ratzkead@gmail.com
• Until then, LeMay will recycle glass if you are willing to drive it to them.  If recycling glass is something worth driving to LeMay you can get directions here: http://www.lemayinc.com/

Compost

• We're told to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.  When you think about it, the amount of waste produced from food really begins to add up.  Banana peels, apple cores, orange peels, any organic material will break down and decompose.  Why put it in a landfill when we could put it back into the earth.  Even better, compost is perfect for creating a small garden or just a nice looking yard.
• If you live on campus look for the green compost bins spread through out campus.  You don't need to have a house to reduce your waste.
• If you are interested in building a compost bin check out the one at PLU's community garden for ideas.

Fun fact:  The city of San Francisco diverts 72% of it's waste from going into landfills, and by 2020 they will put not one ounce of waste into landfills.  If an entire city can divert their waste composting and recycling should be easy for a school like PLU.⁹  

Now that you have eaten and you're ready for a nap, you decide to do your dishes before you crash so you won't have to do them later.  Doing dishes means consuming water, and as we have seen with the sink and the shower, there are tons of things you can do to make sure you aren't guilty of pouring way too much of it down the sink.

Only wash full loads

• Like the washing machine, an average dishwasher uses a ton of water to do it's duty.  In fact, typically, one load in the dishwasher uses 15 gallons of water.¹⁰  Rather than using all that water for 8 or 9 dishes wait until there isn't any room left in your washer to run a load. 
• Already run full loads?  Try and see how well you can organize your dishes in the machine.  I bet you could get a few more in there.

Fill the sink don't run the water

• If you don't have a dishwasher, rather than letting the water run while you do the dishes fill up one side of your sink and do them that way.  One sink full of water is substantially less than if you let the sink run for the ten minutes it takes to clean up after dinner.

Consider a sink aerator

• A sink aerator is just like a low flow shower head but for your sinks.  By installing a sink aerator you can cut your water consumption by up to half.  To purchase a sink aerator look at: http://www.showerheadstore.com/

Fix all leaks

Carbon Footprint Calculator Here is a link to a carbon footprint calculator: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspxI challenge you to measure your footprint right now, pick out three of these ideas and dedicate yourself to making a difference.  Measure your footprint again at the end of each semester to see how much your impact on the earth has been reduced.    Think you are ready? If you are ready to make a difference try taking a look at PLU's live GREEN pledge.  Like I said before, if all of us commits to doing just three of these easy sustainable living ideas PLU could really take a huge leap in the right direction towards saving and protecting our planet. <

Sources used:
1    http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D10/Comal/FCS/Water/F1/nwtrtips.htm
2    http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/he213.html
3    http://www.showerheadstore.com/
4    http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D10/Comal/FCS/Water/F1/nwtrtips.htm

5   Durning, A., & Ryan, J., Stuff: the secret lives of everyday things, 1998.

6   Pollan, M., In Defense of Food, 2008.

7   Durning, A., & Ryan, J., Stuff: the secret lives of everyday things, 1998.

8   http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/san_francisco_t_1.php

9   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/us/11recycle.html?ref=earth

10  http://www.tampagov.net/dept_water/information_resources/Saving_water/Water_use_calculator.asp

11  http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D10/Comal/FCS/Water/F1/nwtrtips.htm