Do Your Part Be Smart Go Green

Going Green, What exactly does that Mean? To "go green" means to take care of where you live- Earth. Is that defined as chaining yourself to a tree in front of an impending massive bulldozer? No. Is it defined as using only products not tested on animals? No, again. Going green means having the three R's become a part of your life. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Kermit the Frog had it right when he said “It’s not easy being green.”

What programs do participate in to be UAlbany students green?

The university participates in several local and nationwide programs that help achieve a eco-friendly community. The Office of Environmental Task Force, Task Force on Environmental Sustainability, UAlbany Students for Sustainability, Sustainability Coordinators, and Sustainability Council are all present on campus and are involved with the various “green” activities.

Students living in the residence halls have reduced their electricity consumption and saved over $39,000. The money was rewarded to all the quads and apartments as an incentive to promote electricity conservation.

We’re now creating monthly bills for students living in Empire Commons We’re now creating monthly bills for students living in Empire Commons. Students that have extremely low electricity bills (~220 kWh/month) will be rewarded prizes from one of the program’s Sponsors.

RecycleMania BinShoot The Bin Shoot is a way to Promote Recycling on Campus. A fun and interactive way to show that You can have fun Recycling. One of the things we did was hand out T-Shirts. If students could make it from the 3pt line, and if they made it from the Foul line, they were given a “You’ve been mugged” coupon which was good for 1 Free coffee with a reusable mug.

Ways You can Go Green

1. Turn off the water Leaving the faucet running while brushing your teeth can waste up to 2-gallons of water. Instead of wasting it just turn the water off.

2. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Reduce your use of disposable items such as throwaway cups, plates and silverware. Set up a recycling system in your home. Create one area for mixed paper and another for glass, cans and plastic. Do you recycle at school? There are programs that allow you to recycle juice boxes at school and get money for them! Before you throw away that halfway printed page, how about using the other side for scrap paper?

3. Turn off/ unplug things Do something productive Go outside, Go for a walk… Turn off the appliances, Turn off the T.V. Turn off the lights when leaving a room. Even turn off your computer, including the monitor and speakers! Unplugging appliances while not in use is the best tip in Going Green!

4. Be Thrifty! Don’t blow all your cash on new gadgets or outfits. Look for opportunities to swap video games with your friends or in stores. Shop at second hand stores like Plato’s closet. Appreciate hand me downs!! Not only do you get to reuse a unique or vintage item, but you also stop factories from making more items and creating pollution, and that greatly reduces your carbon footprint.

5. Spend Less time in the Shower Just by reducing your shower time by about two minutes, and using cool- warm instead of TOO HOT! you can save up to 1,000 pounds of CO2 from being emitted into the air. This is because you are using less electricity to heat the water, but you’re also conserving water at the same time.

6. Get Reusable Water Bottle and Shopping Bags Reusable waters bottles are 100% recyclable at the end of their very long lives. Single use, disposable water bottles and plastic bags create millions of tons of unnecessary waste each year and take 1000 years to biodegrade.

Use only Full Loads in the Laundry and Dishwasher Dishwashers use a lot more water than when hand washing them. So it’s best not to use the dishwasher but if you do, only run a cycle when you have a full load and select the air dry setting.

8. Walk, Carpool or Take the Bus to school When you share a ride, it means fewer people have to use gas and when you walk or bike, there is no fuel burned at all…. Except maybe your breakfast!

9. Use less heat and less cool Lower your heat in the winter and lower the air conditioning (or go without) in the summer. Dress in layers in the winter and grab a blanket. Dress lightly when its hot and close the blinds to keep the heat out. This will saving your parent’s money on their energy bill and reduce the effect on the environment.

10. Ease up on the Video Games Playing games on the computer and TV uses a lot of energy. You should always turn off your games when not in use. Wii systems use the least amount of energy. Get rechargeable batteries for use in games that require batteries.

See, you can go green without making drastic changes in your life! It’s all about how much effort you want to put into living an eco-lifestyle, and all of these steps can easily be incorporated into your everyday activities and make a large difference.

QUESTIONS? www.albany.edu/gogreen Mary Ellen Mallia Director of Environmental Sustainability University Hall 212E MMallia@uamail.albany.edu 518-956-8120 Our Blog http://ualbanygoesgreen.org/