Transportation
1.Bike or take the bus instead of driving
If you grab your bike and ride for just 10 minutes, you can easily burn around 55 calories, and do your part to minimize exhaust emissions in the air. Using the bus for transportation also means burning less fuel. Diminishing the amount of vehicle emissions released into the air means that less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is added to the atmosphere.
2.Walk rather than ride/drive for short trips
With motor vehicles making up approximately a third of the nation’s smog-forming emissions, the vehicles we drive are harming our environment. Just walking a mile, you can burn around 55 calories. Sometimes a nice walk is just what we need to clear our heads and relax.
Hybrid vehicles help the environment because of their low emission rate and because they lessen our dependence on petroleum. Because these vehicles are so fuel efficient, you can save time and money by making fewer trips to the gas station.
4. Buy beverages in returnable containers
Michigan offers a ten-cent refund on many plastic and glass recyclable bottles and containers as an incentive to encourage recycling. When purchasing beverages, look for bottles marked for deposits, and make sure to return them to a store to get your refund.
5. Look for fresh, locally or regionally grown organic food choices
Locally-grown food is fresher, tastes better, and promotes growth in the local economy. It’s also good to support locally and regionally grown foods to cut down transportation costs and pollution. Many cities, including Ann Arbor, have farmers’ markets that offer fresh, local produce at a fraction of grocery store cost.
6. Choose foods without many additives or preservatives
The reason you want to stay away from a lot of additives and preservatives is that they’re simply unhealthy. If you’re eating too many processed and refined foods, you may not be getting all the nutrients and vitamins that fresher foods provide. On top of that, some of these products are made from petroleum by-products (food colorings) and are harmful to our environment. Also remember that when purchasing these products, the extra packaging that the foods come in is often non-recyclable and ends up in a landfill.
Because our bodies are very important, we must make sure we have a good understanding of everything that goes into our bodies. By educating ourselves on how to choose foods that are good for us and for our environment, we can be assured that not only are we helping ourselves but also doing our part to support the right goods.
8. Take or order only what I can eat
Having a great selection of food is wonderful, but in order to fully appreciate what we have, we have to remember to take only what we will eat. There can be nothing done with the leftover food that is not eaten so it is considerate to keep this in mind. Getting a smaller amount and returning for seconds is a good way to prevent wasting food.
9. Purchase goods showing eco-labels (Fair Trade, certified organic, dolphi-safe, etc)
Eco-labels ensure that the products you purchase meet a set of environmental or social standards. By taking advantage of these products, you will know that your money has gone towards the purchase of goods that indicate an independent organization has verified that a product meets a set of meaningful and consistent standards for environmental protection and/or social justice.
10. Choose Energy Star-rated appliances
Energy Star is a program that helps businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. In the year 2004, the nation as a whole conserved enough energy to supply 24 million homes with power. We also avoided greenhouse gas emissions (gasses that trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere) equivalent to emissions from 20 million cars, and saved $10 billion during the year. The reason you should search for Energy Star-rated products is that they meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the EPA and US Department of Energy. So next time you shop for appliances, look for the energy star logo.
11. Use the daylight instead of turning my lights on
Lighting accounts for about 20% of the electricity consumed in the U.S. By opening the curtains and using daylight to illuminate your room when possible, you save not only money but also a great deal of energy. So let a little sunshine in - it will make an incredible difference.
12. Shut down or utilize power management software to regulate computer energy use
By using power utilization software and shutting off electronics when they are not being used, not only are you saving energy but you are also extending the overall life of the equipment you are using.
13. Turn off the lights when I'm the last one to leave a room
Try to always remember to turn off the lights. It may not seem like a big deal but if you If you turn off the lights when they are not needed, you can almost cut the amount of energy that you use in half.
14. Unplug appliances when not in use
In order to save energy and lengthen the life of your appliances unplug those that will not be in use for any period of time. Although you may think your appliances are not using up energy, a great deal of energy is wasted because of the misconception that unused appliances are not using up energy. An easy way to accomplish this is to plug major appliances into a power strip, and turn off the power strip when you leave the room or overnight.
15. Use rechargeable batteries
The elements used in batteries are very harmful to the environment. Having a large number of rechargeable battery usage means the amount of batteries disposed over the course of a given year decreases. It also means less money spent on batteries. You can also lessen gas emissions in the atmosphere by not making as many trips to the store to buy new batteries. So by purchasing these batteries, you can save your wallet and the environment.
16. Use the stairs instead of the elevator
Elevator use contributes to 5% of building energy consumption. If you can, try to bypass using the elevator by taking the stairs. It is a great way to burn a few calories and the small amount of energy you burn is a tiny price to pay for amount of energy you save the building.
Recycling
17. Double-side when printing or copying
If you become a LeeDer, you can take advantage of potentially doubling your paper output by printing on both sides of paper. The reward of knowing you are making a difference in your residence hall is great, but it is nice to directly rewarded as well. To make an even bigger impact, print two pages to each side of a sheet of paper – a total paper savings of 75%!
18. Reuse paper printed only on one side
Much of the paper we use is for our own personal use, and the paper is discarded before both sides are used. Try to minimize the amount of paper that you use by:
- Taking notes on the blank side of the paper
- Printing drafts on used paper
- Use old handouts as scratch paper
- Value both sides of each piece of paper. Using less paper means an easier time recycling.
19. Receive and read newspapers and bills online instead of printed copy
Many newspapers have online versions that are free to use. Don’t take a newspaper if you can read the information you are looking for online. If you really have the desire to read printed newspapers, see if there are any copies available that someone else is done with or pass your paper on to someone else. The more newspapers that are circulating around campus, the more papers that must be recycled, which doesn’t always happen.
20. Recycle paper and containers instead of trashing them
The recycling bins in your room make recycling your papers and containers easier. If you try to dispose of your papers and containers on a regular basis so the bins you use don’t become overwhelming. If you can go to a place that gives money for cans and containers take advantage of that but make sure your bottles and paper don’t end up with non-recyclable products.
21. Recycle my old cell phone
Cell phones have an average lifetime of about a year and a half. There is no reason to throw away your phones and contribute to adding more toxic waste to local landfills when there are plenty of places to donate your old cell phones. There are even some places that will buy your old cell phones. If you get a new phone, recycle your old one. Environmentally it makes a tremendous difference.
22. Recycle my empty ink-jet cartridges
Every time you recycle an inkjet-cartridge, you reduce the amount of solid waste in our landfills and reduce the amount of limited natural resources required for a new cartridge. In the Residential Computing Sites, there are postage marked plastic bags that you can use to send your old cartages to be recycled.
Water Conservation
23. Repair (or report) water leaks and drips
Small leaks are very costly. Toilets can silently leak 150 gallons a day, or 55,000 gallons a year. A pipe leak the size of this letter L can waste a million gallons a year! Make sure there is no leaking water and all faucets are turned completely off So our water can be properly used instead of unnecessarily wasted. If you see a problem that is out of your control and requires professional attention, you can email or call FIXIT right away.
24. Turn the water off while brushing my teeth or shaving.
Letting the water run while brushing your teeth, wastes a great deal of water. If you wet your toothbrush, turn off the faucet while brushing, and quickly rinse off your toothbrush, you can save up to 6 gallons of water every time you brush your teeth.
25. Take shorter showers and use a low flow faucet or shower head
The average shower uses between 12-15 L of water per minute. If you cut your showering time down just 5 minutes, you can save at least 16 gallons of water a day.
26. Only do laundry when I have full loads
A washing machine uses anywhere between 25-50 gallons of water per load. If you minimize the amount of times you wash per month, you can save hundreds of gallons of water (not to mention time!).
General
27. Buy in bulk or choose minimal packaging
Items that are bought in bulk minimize the individual packaging that is used to contain goods unnecessarily. Whenever possible buy in bulk to not only save money, but also to save the amount of packaging disposed.
28. Buy used items (clothes, books, etc)
Used doesn’t mean not useful. There are plenty of online bookstores, in addition to the bookstores in Ann Arbor that sell used books. When it is time to purchase books for class or anything else, shopping for used items can save you a large sum of money.
Here are a few places where you can get great used items:
- Ann Arbor Thrift Shop- 3530 Washtenaw (734) 662-6771
- Michigan Book & Supply- 317 S. State St. (734) 665-4990
- Michigan Union Bookstore- 530 S State St. (734) 995-8877
- PTO Thrift Shop- 2280 S Industrial Hwy (734) 996-9155
- ReUse Center- 2420 S Industrial Hwy. (734) 662-6288
- Salvation Army- 1621 S State St. (734) 332-3474
- St. Vincent de Paul Store- 1001 Broadway (734) 761-1400
- Treasure Mart- 529 Detroit St. (734) 662-1363
- Ulrich's- 549 E University Ave. (734) 352-8200
- University of Michigan Property Disposition- 3241 Baxter Rd. (734) 764-2470
29. Carry my own mug or reusable water bottle instead of using throwaways
Having your own reusable mug or bottle ensures you that you can keep using something with the understanding of exactly where it has been and exactly how clean it is. It also means that you can feel good about the mileage you are getting out of your reusable container compared to a container that will be immediately thrown away.
30. Learn more about campus efforts to become more sustainable and stewards of the environment
Not everyone is a leader, but with the “LeeDer”ship qualities you possess, you can be one. Find an organization that works for you that is geared towards sustaining resourced for the betterment of our environment. Can’t find an organization that is right for you? Start one. Every organization started with someone’s ambition to make an impact. Be that someone and make an impact.
To find a list of some organizations that are geared towards helping the environment go to:
http://uuis.umich.edu/maizepgs/
31. Encourage a friend to become a "LeeDer"
Although everyone has the potential to become a “LeeDer”, sometimes it takes a little direction. Be that person who uses the positive influence that you have to make other people be a “LeeDer” as well.
Send this link to a friend…
http://www.housing.umich.edu/sustainability
