Patrick did a great job explaining the importance of trying to live a sustainable life. If you are interested in getting involved with Sustain Mizzou or have any questions for him, his email address is pjmwd6@mizzou.edu .
What 3 things on the checklist are you going to try to do to reduce your carbon footprint and/or waste output?
What idea(s) do you have not on the checklist? Name at least one way you will or are already doing to reduce your impact on the environment not listed on the sheet.
What do you think, as Dr. Porter noted, we will look back at in 50 years and think we could have done better (What do you think is our most wasteful endeavor)?
Two-Fiddy!!!
Jake; Out.
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Although I will try to do more than three things on the list to reduce my carbon footprint and waste put out, three things stuck out that I can easily change. I leave things I don’t use plugged in all the time. I will try to unplug my straightener, hair dryer, cell phone charger, and lamp when I do not use them, which is most of the time. I plan on turning one of the trashcans into my room into a bin for just paper. I often am too lazy to walk down the hall just to recycle one piece of paper so I just throw it in the trashcan. By the time I get to take the trash out, the paper is not able to be recycled. The third thing I can do is recycle my ink cartridges when they are empty instead of just throwing them away. I can also try to find a place where I can conveniently refill them.
One idea I have that was not on the checklist is online shopping versus going to the mall or store yourself. Think of it as carpooling for packages. Instead of everyone driving around in their own cars, one vehicle takes many packages to one location. Since most packages come in cardboard boxes, it is also smart because you can recycle the package. Most bags given to consumers at stores are too big for the amount of items purchased, and nearly all of them end up in the trash.
I think we will look back in 50 years and think the amount of paper we used was outrageous. We use way too much paper on meaningless things we could store on our computers, send over the Internet, or just verbally communicate.
Everyday I try to be more conscious of my energy and resource consumption and am working to reduce my effect on the environment. I cringe when people throw recyclables in the trash. I recycle as much as possible, but I need to work on reducing my energy consumption. I have my electronics plugged into power strips, but I do not ever turn these strips off. I am going to try to turn off power strips whenever I leave the room. Another bad habit I need to break involves my laptop. During the day when I’m not using my laptop, or when I am sleeping, I have it plugged in and charging. To reduce my carbon footprint I am going to try to turn my laptop off at night and not charge it. When I am done with an ink cartridge I am going to go out and refill the cartridge rather than throwing it in the garbage and buying a new one.
One way I already am reducing my impact on the environment is by shopping at secondhand-stores. I do not do this on a regular basis, but I have multiple articles of clothing that are secondhand. As I write this blog I am wearing a leather belt I bought from a secondhand shop. Secondhand clothing does not only reduce my impact on the environment, but can also result in finding some fashionable items.
When we look back in 50 years I think our use of plastic could have been more greatly reduced. Plastic is used to package many products and is also used to make water bottles which are unnecessary. One can use a reusable water bottle, such as those made by Nalgene in order to reduce their impact on the environment.
Last Monday’s class inspired me to be smarter about how I can do my part to be more sustainable. I’ve always taken fairy long showers, so I will be more conscious of how long I really need to get in, wash my hair, and get out. Another thing I will try to monitor, is the lighting in my room. We usually don’t have lights on too much of the time, but I know we can still greatly reduce the energy we waste by making sure we only have them on when necessary. Lastly, I want to start recycling all of my paper. Like Jake said, I find myself throwing lots of paper in the can next to my desk. It’s not that much of an inconvenience to walk down the hall and take my paper to the recycling room.
I didn’t see much on water conservation on the list, so there are a few ideas there. When I do laundry, I make sure that I always put as much clothing in one machine as possible. This way I am using less water, less energy, and less money.
Dr. Porter brought up how wasteful we are with paper. I think he has an excellent point. In fifty years, I doubt schools will have anyone turning in paper at all-- everything will be electronically done and turned in. I hate to steel his idea, and not come up with one for myself, but I truly think paper is our most wasteful endeavor. We use it in just about every aspect of life. You can’t go anywhere and not see paper. I just can’t imagine that in the future we will be so wasteful.
I have been informed about how to conserve and help the environment in the past, but with Pat’s presentation, I found out how to be more sustainable in college. Three things on the list that I want to try to achieve are recycle more paper, task bundling, and turn off unnecessary electronics.
Recycling paper has also been one of my biggest issues. I already can remember a few times that I grabbed the New York Times and just threw it out when I was done reading it. I also can remember writing an essay and needing a manuscript. The manuscript ended up being 60 some pages long and I accidently messed up, and I just threw the whole wad of paper out. I just need to be more conscious and not just crumble up pieces of paper when I don’t need it anymore.
I know that task bundling is really hard for me. There have been numerous occasions when I have been using my computer and just do random things. Then I will leave and do random stuff and then come back to the computer. I never turn of my computer. I always leave it on and plugged into the wall, which I realized now is wasting so much energy. But I just need to finish all my tasks on the computer at once, and then turn the computer off. This issue also relates to turn off unnecessary electronics.
I forgot what it is exactly called, but I remember Pat was talking about ghost energy or something, where the power still takes energy without the electronic connect to the power chord. I need to take my computer out and save lots of energy.
Not trying to sound like I’m better or anything, but I found out that I do actually do a lot of the things on the list. After the first day, Jake told me to turn off the lights when I’m not in the room and I have been doing that ever since, and also trying to turn off the lights in the bathroom. Furthermore, I like to sit in the dark, so I normally don’t turn on the lights in the first place.
I think that we leave too many electronics on while we are not using them. I find myself numerous times going into my suitemates room to tell them something and finding neither of them in the room, but the television still on. I know we leave certain lights in our house while we are sleeping, and leaving our computers on, when we are not using them. I realized I do it myself, but I think that we can improve on this greatly.
Lately I have become more aware of the pressing issues that surround our planet. Sometimes it’s a little scary to see the grave consequences that our planet and we the human race will face if we don’t change our habits. Each day to reduce my carbon footprint and/or waste output, I will 1. Turn off any unnecessary lights. 2. When possible I will take the shuttles to Wal-Mart and the mall. Lastly, for my light bulbs I’ll use compact fluorescents lights in not only my dorm but back home as well.
One thing that I try and do is that instead of taking notes in a notebook, I take my notes on my laptop and conserve on paper instead. Doing it this way helps me to organize my notes and also with the click of a button I can easily erase a mistake instead of having a paper filled with scratch outs , that eventually I am going to throw away.
I believe that in 50 years that people will look back at us in bewilderment for still talking notes on paper. I believe that people will become more technology advance and make everything accessible through their phones and computers. I also believe they will look down on our use of transportations such city buses that emit huge amounts of pollution. I really wish I had a time machine so I could go and take a peek in the future!
The discussion on Sustainability given by Patrick was very beneficial. I find myself not sustaining energy or electricity. I know for a fact that in my dorm room, sustainability is not acted upon. If the aspect of sustainability is reusing what we already had to benefit our environment I definitely need to improve what I do. The only thing I can think of, off the top of my head, that I reuse, in the dorm room, has to be plastic zip lock bags. In thinking about sustainability, I feel like a bad person since I don’t turn off the lights, I leave the Television on occasionally, I take the longest showers ever sometimes twice a day, and I drink out of plastic water bottles then I throw them away, however I Recycle! I recycle my plastics and cardboard, to say the least. In the discussion we, FIG 64, were informed that Recycling is a part of Sustainability so I am in good standing. Now, I will do my best to be sustainable in my dorm room starting with turning the lights off when I am not in my room, even if I am across the hall, I will turn the television off when I am not watching it instead of just letting it stay on, and I will try to take at least one shower instead of two a day, however I have to keep my showers long since how else will I wake up.
I thought the idea of reusing cereal boxes as covers to notebooks was very innovative. My own personal idea, in adding to the cereal box notebooks, I suggest that the sustainability organization partner up with the place on campus where you turn in your notes to create cereal box notebooks with class notes in them. Maybe my idea was lame, though it was creative. To add something on the checklist that was not listed would have to be, as it was suggested in class, throwing biodegradable waste in the bushes. The next time I eat a banana I am throwing it in the bushes! I, for a fact, utilize the re-sale store or as I call it the Boutique with buying some of my clothing.
Dr. Porter did make an interesting point about looking in 50 years. In 50 years, from now, I think the world would have completely evolved into sustaining waste and products. It takes time and it’s a slow process therefore in 50 years the world should be a sustainable world. As Dr. Porter mentioned in class, the use of paper would be no more because the use of technology is increasing everyday. Technology and sustainability will be the norm in the future. I just thought about age, I going to be 68 in 50 years. Whoa!
I'm gonna be 70 in 50 years; yikes!
Personally I thought that was an amazing presentation. Patrick was really well informed, and I think a lot of the projects that sustain has implemented are incredibly innovative. I have been eating at Rollins every meal since the presentation. I know that’s only three meals so far and eventually im going to get sick of the pizza. However the fact that they are the only facility that compost on campus has really sold me on eating there. Also I plan on going to buy a couple of those notebooks tomorrow. Not quite sure what I’m going to do with them at the moment, but they’re so cool that I just really want a couple.
As far as the checklist goes. I already knew about phantom load, but I had never thought about the fact that cell phone chargers and power strips we part of it. So from now on I am going to be unplugging those when im done using them. I was already thinking about buying the energy efficient bulbs for the dorm but now I think it’s a must. Shoping vintage! I was already all about that, but I liked hearing some one say that it was actually positively affecting the world!
What Dr Porter said about how people fifty years from now will look at our consumer culture has crossed my mind multiple times since the discussion. Im not sure exactly what it will be about us that they find to be appalling, how ever I do know that history shows us that they will see us as totally alien to themselves. Whether it be that our cars are some of the lease fuel-efficient machines to grace the earth’s surface or it be that we were stupid enough to drink water out of plastic containers, which clearly causes you cancer. However many mistakes we have made as a society though, I think were moving in the right direction
-Cooper
The presentation on sustainability this week really helped me to realize how much energy I could sustain by making a few minor changes to my daily routine. One thing I could do for sure that would help would be to make sure I turn off unnecessary lights. There are times when I find that my roommate and I both have our desk lights on in addition to the main room light. Reducing the amount of lights we use would help sustain energy substantially. Another step I will take to increase sustainability would be unplugging my various chargers. I currently leave my phone and laptop chargers plugged into the wall at all times and it causes energy to be wasted through “phantom charges”. I plan to get a power strip to plug in my chargers to sustain more energy. Lastly, I plan to improve my recycling habits by separating my trash before I dump it in the trash room. One thing I am currently doing, that wasn’t mentioned on the sheet, is reusing my plastic bags instead of throwing them away right after I get them. For example, when I go to the emporium and get a plastic bag to hold my food, I use the bag as a trash bag in my room or use it to hold other things.
I think by far the most wasteful thing we have now is paper. Especially with how technology is continuously advancing, we still use too much paper and then simply throw it away. I understand that paper is still going to be around for many years, but the way we get rid of it needs to change. Recycling and reusing paper would greatly increase the amount of energy we sustain. When we look back years from now I think we’ll be appalled at the amount of paper we wasted.
In a society where we are gradually "going green", sustainablility plays a major roll in how we should begin to live our lives. I admit that I am not the most environmental-conscious person, but times are changing and I, as well as everyone else in the nation, have to start preserving my resources in better ways than I have been doing. In my dorm room, I tend to leave everything plugged in and running all the time and I do take extremely long showers. Habits are a tough thing for me to snap out of so it might take me some time. I also would like a recycle bin in my room because I tend to just throw paper away in my trash can. It is definitely not convenient for me to walk all the way down the hallway to recycle one piece of paper at a time. I will set up a place in my room for paper to be placed so I can start to recycle as much as I should!
One thing that I have been doing to help the environment out is walking and riding my bike everywhere. I don't have a car here, so I technically don't have much of a choice. Living on a college campus has obviously contributed to the fact that I am walking everywhere as well. I also want to start donating clothing to organizations such as Good Will instead of just throwing old clothes away when they don't fit me anymore.
I think in about 50 years we will all be absolutely fascinated about how unsustainable our world once was. I feel that we are slowly slipping into total sustainablility and the amount of plastic, paper and even electricity that was wasted will be a shock. And talk about shock, we'll all be senior citizens by then... Weird!
I think I could be more sustainable than I am. One thing I am really good at is keeping only one light on in my room at a time. I always turn off all the lights in my room before leaving and open my blinds during the day. Actually as I look around my room I have two lights on. So now I just lied to you, but I'm getting up and turning one of them off right now....
It's off now! I am also pretty good about turning off my computer when I am not using it. I try to recycle paper as much as I can, but I think I could be a little better with that. I am also really good with carpools. Actually I am ALWAYS the driver, but it's o.k. because I love driving my car. For example, the other night I drove my roommates to the gas station for a caffeine trip. Today I drove three other people to wal-mart and next weekend when I go home I already plan on taking someone. That's about all I do to be sustainable though.
I could do a lot more things to help out the environment. Within the next couple of months I plan on unplugging everything that I is not in use. As I look around right now my lamp, hairdryer, straightener and phone charger are all plugged in. Im going to go unplug those right now...
They are unplugged now! I also plan on recycling more paper. I think we can keep a recycling bin in our room that we can recycle paper in. I think that we all could be more sustainable in what we do.
In 50 years I think that we will have found a bunch of new inventions that will help us be sustainable. In 50 years in probably won't even be much of a problem anymore. There will probably loads of new ways of transportation and everyone will be so used to always turning lights off and recycling paper. I think that everything will be so much better by then. With all the new technology that has come out in recent years, surely they will find ways of keeping waste out of the environment.
Before the presentation on Monday, I was unaware of how many ways there were for me to be sustainable. There are a few things that I’m going to try to do here in the dorms to make a difference. The first thing I’m going to do is try to recycle more. I used to recycle everything possible back home because it was made easy for me. Since I moved here, I seem to just throw stuff away because it is easier than going all the way downstairs. I will also try to use fluorescent light bulbs in my lamp in my room. Not only will this help the environment, but it will also save me money in the long run because they last so long. The third thing that I’m going to do is turn off my power strip when I’m not using it. I hadn’t heard of “phantom load” before the presentation, and it seems to be really wasteful.
One thing that I’ve tried to do since I’ve been here that isn’t on the list is try to keep as much stuff on the computer as possible. At home, I used to print everything off. However, with so much stuff being online here, I try to just use the online copy instead of printing off everything. I’ve noticed that I replace paper in my print so much less than I did at home, so I’m already noticing a difference.
I think that in 50 years, people will look back on our recycling habits today and be shocked at how little we recycle. By then, there will be so many more products that can be recycled. In addition, it will probably be easier to recycle. Some people have to pay to have their recycling picked up, so they don’t do it because it is easier to just throw everything away.
After Monday's class, I'll admit that while I was rather impressed with the discussion and the Sustain Mizzou group, I felt more helpless than before. A lot of the things that would reduce my carbon footprint are more than a little outside my financial range right now. However, I will try to keep my computer turned off and unplugged more often. Also, I will attempt to recycle more paper, instead of absent-mindedly throwing it in the trash. haha. Also, I have a terrible habit of leaving lights on during the day, so I will attempt to cut back on that as well.
I agree with Frances- secondhand shopping should have been on the list. I'm a huge fan of the resale world- a lot of my most favorite articles of clothing were bought on resale. (The bookstore could learn from this, am I right???) I also agree with Alicia and will also try shopping online more often as it's just more interesting and more of a gamble.
I believe that in fifty years we'll look back on this period of 'being green' being fashionable and laugh. In a perfect world, all the things that are seemingly just trends now (the Smart Car, etc.) will be parts of our every day lives that we won't even think twice about. Energy sustaining lightbulbs will be the only lightbulbs available. We'll carpool instead of dricing everywhere, or even bike or walk there! The only way we'll get there is to keep up our progress today...
There are some very simple things I can begin to do to reduce my negative impact on the environment. I haven’t figured out how to set my printer to economode yet, but that’s an easy way to reduce the amount of ink I use. I can also take my ink cartridges to Walgreens to have them refilled, instead of just throwing them away and buying new ones. Not only will this help reduce waste by reusing my ink cartridges, I can save money too. In addition to this, I’m going to make sure I use task lighting in our room. The big industrial light uses a lot of electricity, so by just using our lamp, desk light, or window lighting, I’ll save electricity.
One thing I already do that wasn’t on the list is donating old clothing. By donating or selling clothes to a secondhand store, they go either to people who need them or to shoppers who are helping then helping the environment. The more clothes that are reused, the less companies use their wasteful and harmful machinery, and the better the world is.
I think that in 50 years, nearly all of our practices will be frowned upon by the next generation—our inefficient cars, our waste plastic and paper, our obsession with getting everything brand new, our careless usage of energy. Our most wasteful endeavor, however, has to be our waste of water. In most of the US, and especially in Missouri, we have plenty of water. We don’t think twice about taking 20 minute showers, washing tons of laundry, leaving the water running, and filling up and dumping out our water bottles all the time. This needs to change, but it’s definitely the one that most people struggle with.
I think that the top three things that I can do to help not be wasteful and help sustain would be to turn out lights when I leave my room, actually turn my computer off when I’m not using it, and recycling my plastics. I usually turn off my main light when I leave my room, but more often than not, I’ll come back inside and find that I accidently left a lamp on, so if I remember to turn that off as well when I leave I’ll be set as far as turning off lights goes, I’ll probably put a sticky note on my desk or something along those lines. And as far as shutting my laptop off, I’m usually wait to impatient to wait for it to load back up when I want to use it again, so normally I’ll just leave it open and on which isn’t good at all. So if I can learn a little patientance that will help out a lot too. Same with recycling plastics, I just need to go the extra mile and hang on to a water bottle for just a little while longer to find a recycle bin.
Something I do other than what’s on the list is I try not to use the elevators, I don’t use the handicap button to open up the doors, and walk absolutely everywhere. Even back home I tried not to drive anywhere and when I did, me and my friends carpooled.
I think that we’ll look back in 50 years and be appalled at the ungodly amount of paper and plastic we used. Although we are gradually moving onto everything being on computers and done electronically, but we still rely a lot on paper. Same with plastic, instead of reusing old plastic bottles again and again, we just throw them away and go for another one instead of refilling it. I think in the future, we’ll do a lot more refilling than just buying more. It’s cheaper too.
Even though I'm already WASTING energy doing this blog, there are some things I could do to help counteract this action. One big thing I almost never do is turn off my power strip. But now after the presentation I make sure I turn it off every time I leave the room for an extended period of time. Also, I've been working on shutting my computer down when I don't use it instead of just putting it to sleep. Another HUGE thing I need to work on is this "phantom drain" thing. I always leave my phone charger plugged in which I should probably work on...but fortunately the power strip helps out with that. One last thing I do is now I bitch at my roommate if he doesn't turn the TV and/or the lights off when he leaves the room...he forgets to do it all the time...terrible.
One thing that isn't on the list because it seems way too obvious is just recycling. I think it is ridiculous that people don't recycle sometimes just because they are too lazy to walk the extra 10 feet to the recycling can. Just getting people to be less lazy would help us take a huge step forward. My roommate does this all the time...I always find bottles in the trash can when the recycling bag is right next to it. Also, one thing I've been doing ever since I used up my first trash bag at Mizzou is I use the bags you get from emporium or wherever else and use them as trash bags, that way you don't waste something you used for 5 minutes.
In 50 years we will probably think it will be ridiculous that we used such inefficient forms of transportation. The engine used for a typical car is extremely inefficient, that's not even delving into the ludicrous realm of SUVs and Hummers and stupid things like that. We take advantage of the environment because we are too stubborn to change our ways, we like driving big cars. We need to make an effort to change the ignorance in our country so we don't COMPLETELY destroy it for the generations to come.
It will be hard for me to remember to actually put into the action the three ideas on the sheet i am about to mention. First I know I can turn the lights off as I leave a room. I do this some of the time, but I should do it more often. This happens especially when I step out of a room for only a few minutes, but every second that you waste electricity is throwing away resources. I should also unplug my Ipod and phone chargers when they are not being used. I leave them in the outlet because I am lazy. Everyone wastes napkins, I am no different. From now on I will only take napkins as I need them instead of grabbing a whole bunch at once. Once again a product of laziness.
One idea not on the list is for people to shop at resale shops instead of high end retailers. The clothes at shops such as these were turned in by those who did not need them anymore. Unfortunately people always want something brand new instead of using something old that is still good.
In 50 years we will probably ask ourselves why we were so reluctant to find other ways to use energy efficiently such as driving less and using public transportation or using solar panels instead of coal powered energy even though we have the technology to do so.
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