Sustainability Tips

Educate Yourselves

• Take opportunities to learn about sustainability.
• Be informed, vote, and get involved in the political process.

Tips At Home

• Save energy by turning off lights and computers, and setting heating and cooling temperatures correctly.
• Consume less by using durable goods such as coffee mugs or water bottles instead of disposables or throwaways.
• Change to energy efficient light bulbs.
• Use energy conservation and renewable energies instead of fossil fuels whenever possible.
• Whenever possible, use silverware rather than disposable plastic forks, knives and spoons.
• Use the stairs not the elevator when going up less than three flights or down less than five.
• When you shop for a new appliance, look for the Energy Star label-your assurance that the product saves energy.
• Unplug items from outlets when you are not using them, this will reduce your energy bill in addition to helping the environment.
• If you are going away for a weekend or a week long trip, unplug everything in your home except the refrigerator. Save the environment and save money. Plugged in appliances drain energy even when they are not in use.

Saving water is becoming even more crucial these days.
Spend less time in the shower, turn the water off while you are actually brushing your teeth, don’t use hot water for your laundry, and only run your washing machine/dishwasher with a full load.

Look for reduced packaging.
The less packaging used means less garbage filling up our landfills. Try not to use plastic bags. Plastic bags are used so carelessly in society and they continue to be one of the worst things for the environment. It takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to disintegrate in a landfill.

Add some houseplants to your apartment.
Just two plants per hundred square feet in your apartment spread out over the rooms will clean out toxins in the air.