Going green – an easy option for IU students

Renewing, reusing and recycling not only save the earth but can cushion your wallet.
What can college students do to help? It’s easy to turn off all the lights in your house, but not in a dorm. And how can you stop every person in your apartment complex from wasting water?


REDUCE AND RESIST

College students are at a time where they should get into better habits so they can care for the earth after they leave school, said Stephanie Kimball, co-convenor of Earth Care Bloomington.

Earth Care Bloomington is an interfaith environmental group that helps people steward the earth.

“The number one thing is to reduce consumption,” Kimball said.

People can conserve energy by reducing the number of things they buy.

Take a phone, for example. Energy usage is not just the electricity used to charge it but the energy used to manufacture, pack and ship it. So once you have purchased something, make it last.


DON’T DRIVE

Kimball said college students have a unique advantage to conserve power because everything is so close together.

If you have a car, just use it to go home or on long trips. Riding a bike or taking a bus are two alternatives, Kimball said. Biking saves gas and money and is good for you.

If biking is impossible, take the bus, she said. Campus and city bus lines are available to all students.


LOOK TO THE FUTURE

In addition to everything you can do now, you should plan for what happens after you leave Bloomington, Kimball said.

“For people starting off,” she said, “take a look at the type of community you want to live in.”

Bloomington has a large amount of environmentally conscious residents who have created a community that appeals to those values. Do your research if being earth conscious is important to you so you can live with other like-minded people, she said.


UNIFY

Kimball said she was happy when she saw that IU dorms were having contests to see who could get the most environmentally efficient dorm.

This is a great example of unifying, she said.

When the entire student body gets behind an idea like using less coal or water, then policy can be changed.

This mentality shouldn’t be limited to just the University, she said.

Lauren Kastner, president of Coal Free IU, said she believes all environmental changes will not be made by lawmakers and the government.

“The grass-roots movement of youth will make the changes,” she said.


BE ACCOUNTABLE

Kasnter feels that college students must acknowledge that it is their responsibility to save the earth.

If you are going to preach that you hate fossil fuels, then don’t expect everyone else to stop driving their cars when you drive yours. We all waste, and no one is above responsibility, she said.

“I find that sustainability is our generation’s issue,” she said, “It is not a liberal issue because it is everyone’s issue.”