Update

Everyone in the house has been searching for new ways to become more environmentally friendly. Within the past week we have come up with a few new ideas that will help us do just that.

Setting your printer to the Duplex printing option is a great way to conserve paper.

Buying more eco-friendly items (refer to link below).

Some companies offer the option of mailing your ink cartridges back to the company to be recycled. (I know that HP offers this service. When you buy a new cartridge, they include a free, pre postage envelope. Just put the empty cartridge in and send it away. So easy!)

Because laptops are a necessity to college students, for work and play, they are used very often. A great way to conserve energy via laptops is to unplug them while in use. Similar to an electric car, the laptop itself can run on its own battery. When the battery is low, simply plug it in to recharge, unplugging again when it has fully charged. This should save approximately half of the energy you would have used!
If you walk away from your computer, you also have the option of putting it in a type of "power saver" or "sleep mode" if you do not way to completely shut off your computer.

So far, these methods, along with the ones previously posted, have been working. Everyone in the house is contributing toward the goal of being more eco-friendly.
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Also, this eco-challenge happens to be just one of the many "green" changes the house has been noticing on the PhilaU campus. Not only have we seen articles in the school paper, reminders to switch off the lights in bathrooms and classrooms, but also in the content of our classes.

Personally, I have seen teachers encouraging duplex printing and e-mailing of assignements, as opposed to printing them out page by page. My Environmental Science class freshman year got us being active by having us pulling weeds out of a nearby forest, which I was told will create a more habitable environment for wildlife.
I am also currently taking part in the toxicology portion of my Exploring Science class. We are learning about the materials economy. This is a description of how we get our stuff and where ig goes when we are done with it. It includes the extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal of "stuff". I have provided a link to a video that clearly explains all of this. It has proved to be very helpful in defininf the problems with the current system, and what we can do to fix it.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

I have also added another link below. This link is not a video, however, proves to be very informative. They offer a number of service and loads of informatoin about what actions can be taken in towards becoming more eco-friendly. However, their most interesting attribute is their cosmeteic safety database. This website has gathered information about cosmetics that are sold worldwide. They rate each product and give it a score of 0-10 based on the harm they cause to the plant and to humans. You go to the webiste and look up a product that you use. See how it rates among other products and other brands! If you have a very harmful product, you can also look up alternative products that are safer for you, your family and your environment. I thought this website was a lot of fun!

http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/

It can be easy being green,

Teammate
Jennifer Rushalski
732.688.4877
Rushalski4528@philau.edu