Much of the same is true for helping the environment. These days, the media, businesses and your everyday acquaintances are constantly promoting green awareness and sustainability. You yourself may claim to promote preservation of the environment, but do you really actively do your part? Be honest with yourself. If you’re like me, you do the regulars: occasional recycling, maybe turning off some unused lights every now and then, and telling your friends to carpool to minimize carbon dioxide emissions. However, there are also a lot of things you don’t do. For instance, in the bathroom, you may see the air dryer, but know that using a paper towel will speed up the process despite what everyone says about deforestation. Or you might realize that taking a 20-minute shower is unnecessary and wasteful, but then you can’t resist the lure of all that hot water.
To go back to my metaphor, if you’re like me, you like the green sweater and you appreciate others who have the green sweater, but you haven’t done enough work on your part to wear one of your own. To truly claim environmental advocacy, one must commit completely to the cause, making sacrifices on many different levels in the name of saving this planet.
Now, the purpose of this article isn’t to scorn all of you who don’t take two-minute showers or do your homework by candlelight. After all, I did just admit that I’m among you. No, I wrote this article to offer some suggestions and ideas in order for Amherst students to become more environmentally friendly right in the comfort of their dorms — to give them the means to wear that green sweater.
So here are some simple ways to be sustainable within Amherst College dorms:
• Use cloth towels instead of paper. Set aside one of your personal face towels and bring it with you to use in the bathroom. We all know that the air dryers don’t work as well as paper towels, and a cloth towel will solve that issue without cutting down more trees.
• Turn off your lights when you’re not in the room. And if you see the lights on in another room not being used (for instance, a common room), feel free to shut them off. Conserve electricity!
• Take showers only for as long as you have to. It (obviously) saves water, and it will most likely make the next person in line to take a shower very happy when he or he only has to wait five minutes, not 15.
• Use your recycling bins. Despite how easy it may seem to just throw everything in one trash can, I can promise you it’s not a whole lot of extra effort to throw your plastic bottle, soda can or failed essays three more inches to the left or right.
• Don’t open your windows when the heat is on. The thermostat is adjustable for a reason — if you’re too hot, turn it down, or turn it off and then open the window.
• Don’t leave the sink running while you brush your teeth. It’s a whole lot of water wasted, and you can’t possibly be brushing and using the water at the same time. Turn the sink on when you absolutely need water and off when you don’t.
• Turn off your electronics when you aren’t using them. Despite popular belief, leaving your plugged-in computer in sleep mode isn’t any better than turning it on and off. If you shut it down when you aren’t using it, you conserve quite a bit of electricity (and you may not be so tempted to go on facebook all the time).
• Use the stairs. Though we do have the luxury of elevators in our dorms, the exercise is good for everyone, and again, you save a good amount of electricity.
These are only some basic ways to preserve the environment. The list of ways you can help is endless. No effort is too small — the Earth needs all the help it can get.