Green tip of the week

WHEN MOVING OUT OF YOUR RESIDENCE HALL, TAKE YOUR UNWANTED FURNITURE AND APPLIANCES TO A LOCAL THRIFT STORE INSTEAD OF THROWING IT AWAY :-)

5 Easy First Steps to Going Green

from the Daily Green

1)Bring Your Own Bag:
When you go out shopping, bring your own reusable bags. This preserves resources by cutting down on the huge number of paper and plastic bags that are discarded after a single trip.

2)Save On Electricity:
There are many ways to trim those electric bills. Wash your laundry in cold water instead of hot, line dry your linens, and use a toaster oven for small heating needs instead of a bigger electric stove. Open windows to let the light in, turn off unneeded lights and appliances, and unplug unused electronics to counter the 'energy vampire' effect.

3)Save On Gas:
Every gallon of gasoline you burn produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide, so it pays to conserve (in more ways than one). Your car will work more efficiently if you obey the speed limit and avoid rapid, unnecessary acceleration. Keep your tires properly inflated and get regular tune-ups. Forget warming up under most conditions.

4)Shop A Farmer
Shop at your local farmers' market. This will help support farmers in your area, so they won't be forced to sell off their land for development, and it will decrease your food miles, meaning less fuel will be used to provide your daily meals. Your food will be delicious and better for you.

5)Water Smarts:
Drink water from the tap, instead of buying single-use bottled water, which requires much more energy to produce, store and transport. Barely 20% of those plastic bottles end up getting recycled, and most are made out of petroleum. Use filters if you are concerned about your local water supply.
Buy a reusable bottle to take with you on the go, so you can always refill it from a tap and avoid buying bottled water. Stainless steel is a good choice, because you don't have to worry about the potentially toxic chemicals that can leach out of many plastics over time.

The Daily Green

The Daily Green is a great resource for gathering 'green' information, offering tips on green living, recipes for green cooking, and daily news updates.

Interesting features:
470.4 Billion Ways to Go Green This Holiday Season

Organic Foods and More: 30 Days to a Greener Diet

Quiz: How Green Are You?

30+ Ways to Save Money By Going Green

Email signature to save paper

Email signatures are a great way to encourage paper conservation. Consider adding a message like this to the footer of your outgoing messages:

Be Earth-friendly, please do not print this e-mail unless there is
truly a need.

Community Green Tip

The suggestion to open the blinds instead of turning on the lights disregards other complicated reasons for closing blinds, e.g., to keep out the hot rays of the afternoon sun that result in a temperature increase for classrooms leading to an increase in the demand for air-conditioning. Surely, running the air-conditioning is more expensive than running the lights.

Would it be possible to install reflective film on the west side of buildings in the direct path of the setting sun to cut down on excess heat?

*Have a tip of your own? Email sustainability@meredith.edu to be featured here!

Welcome...

...to the Meredith College Sustainability Journal!

This site will be used to announce and discuss events on campus as well as track the progress of the Sustainability initiative. Please feel free to make comments on any of the post and discuss your personal views on where sustainability could potentially soar at Meredith.