Going Green on Campus

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” – Robert Swann 

The discussion about climate change is spreading throughout the world and people are finally taking action to help save the planet. If you want to contribute to the environment movement but don’t know where to start, begin by making IMSA’s campus a clean and safe environment. Here are a few simple ways to improve campus sustainability and minimize your impact on the environment.

• Eat less meat/Go vegetarian
  • The production of meat is one of the primary threats to a healthy environment because it contributes to pollution, climate change, and global warming. Specifically bovine production and consumption.  Cattle elicit a climate-altering greenhouse gas, methane, when they are digesting food. More cattle means an increase of methane released into the atmosphere that adds to the causes of global warming. Reducing the production of cattle will lead to less methane enveloping the Earth.
    

    A concise photo about the biogenic carbon cycle. (Source | Matrix Lesson)

  • It can be hard to switch to an entirely different diet but Lexington can make the transition easier! They tend to have vegan and vegetarian options and if there is nothing you like, you can put in your own recommendations for food alternatives. IMSA also provides trips to stores and walking trips to Orchard Rd with more options for food. If these don’t suffice, you can always bring food from home.

• Go digital 
  • Instead of taking notes on paper, you can use your computer.  Computers are easily transportable, and we take them everywhere for school. Using less paper reduces deforestation, another main issue of climate change. Trees produce oxygen from carbon dioxide but if we continue to chop down trees, carbon dioxide will overproduce and trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere. 
  • If you are not a fan of typing, there are ways to still write in class. Karst Stone Paper is a company that produces “Stone Paper.” They use recycled limestone instead of the traditionally used tree pulp. The business sells notebooks, planners, anything that contains paper as well and woodless pencils.

• Save water
  • Water conservation is very important nowadays. Using less water means taking less water away from the environment. Only 0.5% of water is available for drinking and wasting it while you are on your phone when “getting ready” for your shower isn’t the best way to help the environment. Not only does this benefit the environment but it can also benefit you. Doctors recommend no longer than ten minutes in the shower so the next time you take a shower, keep this in mind. Less time in the shower also means less of a chance of being in the shower when the fire alarm goes off. You don’t want to go outside in the freezing weather with only a towel on. It’s not fun.

• Recycle
  • This might be cliché but it works. Recycling has been a mainstream idea since the 1970s, and we continue to recycle because it reduces the amount of plastic in oceans as well as on land. In your dorms, separate your trash cans so one for regular and one for recyclables. Recycling on campus impacts outside our campus bubble as well. When we recycle, we are avoiding filling landfills with usable materials and conserving resources.  

Participating in these simple contributions will affect IMSA’s campus and create a clean environment without trash on the ground.