You know what it is to be green but, when you’re a high school student or in college with a busy schedule, sometimes it seems like a lot of time and effort that you don’t have to devote to becoming Eco-friendly.
There are simple ways you can help the environment that take little to no time or effort and can save you extra money in the process. Use social media to showcase your natural resource, national park and ecological community care with contests like the #PlantYourChange that made The Best Instagram Challenges of 2020.
Here are 15 easy ways you can live greener while you’re a student:
- Take Notes Electronically
- Decrease Meat Consumption Eating less meat – even omitting it from a meal one day a week – can positively influence change. When you do eat meat, look for labels that specify free range, organic and hormone and antibiotic free.
- Adopt Reusable Bag Practices
- Nix Bottled Water Reuse old water bottles or purchase water bottles that you can refill instead of tossing out a new bottle every time you need to quench your thirst.
- Recycle
- Power Down When you’re not using appliances or you’re not in a room, turn off lights and other electronics. An easy way to implement this is by connecting your electronics to a surge protector and flipping the switch when you leave the room.
- Buy Less or Borrow Only buy what you actually need. In a consumer culture, it’s easy to fall into overbuying habits. If you only purchase what’s necessary, you’ll not only be going green but saving green as well.
- Walk or Bike More In addition to helping you live a healthier lifestyle, trying to cut down on driving can help the environment and save you a lot of gas money as well. This is a great way to eliminate fossil fuel use in the United States.
- Use Energy Efficient Light Bulbs Try to switch your bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescent (CFLs) or LED bulbs. Though they may be a little more expensive, it’s worth it because they can last up to five times longer than regular light bulbs and are very bright, so you won’t need to turn on as many lights.
- Save Energy Set your thermostats a few degrees lower or your air conditioner a few degrees higher. You probably won’t notice much of a difference, but the environment will!
- Eat Sustainable Seafood Stay away from harvested or farmed fish or seafood that’s not sustainable. Choose sustainably caught fish as the other methods of capture can have disastrous impacts on ocean ecosystems.
- Don’t Purchase Aerosol Sprays With millions of beauty products out there, it’s easy to find products in pump sprays as an alternative. Try to look for items with environmentally responsible brand seals.
- Think About Your Water Usage Turn off the water while brushing your teeth, washing your face or shaving. It's estimated that, using an average number of 2.5 gallons per minute from the typical shower head, reducing your shower length by 4 minutes per day would save (assuming you shower every day, ahem) 3,650 gallons per year.
- Support Better Brands Look for and use beauty and cleaning products brands that are responsible in their production, looking for responsible brand seals.
- Opt Out of Junk Mail
You Might Also Like
Shawna Newman
Managing Editor, Contributing Writer
Shawna Newman is the Managing Editor and a writer at Fastweb. She has over 10 years of experience in higher education. Her direct work with college admissions teams, financial aid officers, college deans, ...
