Lifelong Lessons

The house is continuing the efforts of trying to be more eco-friendly. We are maintaining actions such as unplugging our laptops while we work on them, keeping the lights off whenever possible, and keeping appliances unplugged. We are sticking to the motto “Reduce, Reuse & Recycle” as strictly as possible.

We have incredibly reduced the amount of water and electricity usage. For example, we try to let our hair air dry as much as possible, before we consider using a hair dryer/straightener. And even if some people forget a light switch on occasion, others are there to help out. We are also shutting the water off while we brush our teeth and wash our hands and turning it back on to rinse. This may seem like a small amount of water, however, it does add up with 5 people washing and brushing multiple times every day! I am also working on keeping my room as clean as possible so that I will not have to waste as much electricity on vacuuming or wasting as many chemicals on cleaning up spills and such.

We reuse as many objects as we can before throwing them away or recycling them ex. Plastic bags, water bottles, scrap paper, and getting more than one use out of certain pieces of clothing, etc.

We also continue to recycle as much as possible, including PhilaU recyclables, but also other recyclables we get from other places. I have been recycling ink cartridges and donating old, gently worn clothing.

We are also trying to reduce our ugly carbon footprints by walking, bicycling, carpooling and using public means of transportation. These reduce carbon emissions because either we are emitting zero amounts of carbon or having one trip being used for multiple uses, not just one.

I feel as though many of these tasks are very simple! They are so easy to do, I find myself easing into some of them. It can be hard to master all of the recommendations at once, so easing into them is best. Some habits may be hard to break, but we should be making conscious decisions everyday to do out best at keeping ourselves eco-friendly.

Here are a couple of fun links that reiterate simple ways to being green and encourage us to do so!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrBxApe0EM0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPkOFwaGKG0

It can be easy being green,

Jennifer Rushalski
Rushalski4528@philau.edu
732.688.4877