5 easy ways college students and everyone else can practice sustainability

Investing in a reusable water bottle is one of the easiest ways to go green. Igor Alecsander/E+/Getty Images via CNN Newsource

If you told me four years ago that I’d be living a sustainable life, I wouldn’t have known what that meant.

With the planet getting warmer and more people viewing global warming as a serious threat, there is no better time to act than now. At least, that’s the message we keep getting.

But as an incoming college student, what can you do?

For the past four years, I’ve been living on a green campus surrounded by recycling and composting cans and “what to do” signage. But it can still be hard to navigate all the guidance, especially coming from a household that didn’t know much about sustainable living.

I turned to my university’s top sustainability official, who told me that taking steps to go green doesn’t have to be difficult.

Simple changes can make a profound difference in creating a sustainable campus, and now that students are going back to school, it’s a great time to think about what you can do, said Ciannat Howett, Emory University’s vice president of resilience, sustainability and economic inclusion.

The impact of a college campus “is very much like a small city,” Howett said. “It’s energy, water, waste, transportation, food, the built environment — but what we’re doing is bringing together the research, the teaching and the operational part to create … a living laboratory sort of experience (on campus). And that’s not unique to Emory. Other campuses are doing it as well.”

To make our world greener, here are five easy things you can do to start living sustainably in college — or really, anywhere.

Choose a reusable bottle

Plastics make up at least 232 million tons of planet-warming emissions, so switching to a refillable, reusable water bottle or tumbler is an easy way to do your part in reducing waste.

“(It is) a great way to eliminate single-use plastic and is a really smart conservation measure,” Howett said. Not only does it save students money, but keeping hydrated is a healthy lifestyle choice.

Most college campuses, including Emory and Pennsylvania State University, also have water refill stations in every building to encourage students to bring their own bottles.

Worried you’ll forget in the morning? “Go ahead the night before and put in the refillable water bottle and the refillable coffee mug in your backpack pockets, and then you’ll have it for the day,” Howett said.

Stick to a ‘green’ dorm theme

Students can do a lot to conserve energy in their residence hall or dorm room, Howett said.

This can be as simple as turning off the lights when you leave, limiting the number of electronics you bring to campus, and decorating with posters instead of Christmas or fairy lights.

“Just minimizing that plug load makes a big difference for us in terms of saving energy,” she added.

You don’t have to give up your electronics entirely — which is also unreasonable given how schools work now — but you can maximize energy saving by using devices that are Energy Star certified.

“Energy Star is a program through the United States Environmental Protection Agency that certifies appliances and electronics to be the most energy saving, and they do that for computers — it’s called EPEAT — and then Energy Star for other appliances like refrigerators, so that all of that goes to really saving energy just in your residence hall,” Howett said.

Plan your commute

A sustainable commute to, from or on campus is also important. “That could mean bringing a bike from home or renting a bike while you’re on campus, getting familiar with the campus shuttle schedule and the local public transportation schedule,” Howett said.

Taking public transportation, such as buses or campus shuttles, reduces carbon emissions by 45% and decreases the amount of vehicles on the road.

Shuttles can also run on cleaner, green forms of energy. Emory’s shuttles have been running on biodiesel fuel since 2006, and the campus has conserved fuel energy by recycling old cooking oil used in the dining halls.

“Many colleges don’t allow first-year students to bring a car to campus,” Howett said. “Right out of the gate, many first-years start learning that kind of sustainability practice, which when they leave our campus gates, they may continue wherever they move to.”

Get your steps in

Another tip that’s both healthy and conserving is taking the stairs rather than the elevator, Howett said. “You save energy, and you get your steps in.”

Elevators contribute to 27.18 kilograms (almost 60 pounds) of carbon emissions per year and affect energy conservation at every stage, starting from the time they’re manufactured through the time they are demolished. As many residence halls and academic buildings have elevators, it’s important to practice these conscious acts of sustainability.

“Students collectively make a big impact in terms of the amount of waste they generate,” so these smaller acts of sustainability add up, Howett said.

And research has shown that walking has health benefits, like reducing the risk of premature mortality and cancer, so you can improve your health as well as the planet.

Eat ‘green’

The idea of reducing or cutting out meat can scare a lot of people, but it’s not as difficult as you might think.

“(E)at meals that are locally or sustainably sourced, and generally, if you eat more plants than meat, you’re making a more sustainable choice because the production of meat is so carbon-intensive,” Howett said.

You can eat the Mediterranean way or try dishes from countries that have low rates of meat consumption, like India, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

If that’s still intimidating, an easy way to lean into a green diet is to gradually substitute beef with high-protein vegetarian foods, like beans or quinoa.

Making this swap also has health benefits, as eating more fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of kidney and heart disease.

You probably already do some of these things, which means you’re already living somewhat of a green life. But by adding even one of these practices to your day-to-day routine, you can affect meaningful change.

By Gina Park, CNN