After just finishing my mid-semester exams (about 1 and a half ago) I noticed a bunch of things that I really need to change that can drastically impact the environment. I have already made these small changes but there is always room for improvement. Not too long ago, on my Instagram, I noticed that there were quite a lot of people/accounts trying to raise awareness of the fact that there is a major room for improvement in the way we humans live on earth. All these environmental issues that are currently coming in awareness, I would like to slowly help out. These are the first 5 things that I have done and I hope you can too. I am a student so these tips and tricks are student-related but there are easily applicable to every busy person.
1 – Coffee Cups
When you go to the nearest cafe or coffee shop don’t forget your own reusable coffee cup. I stated in 4 Things That I Do To Save Money at Cafes that most cafes offer a small discount when you do so. On top of that benefit, you are also reducing the significant amount of plastic/cardboard coffee cups. These plastic/cardboard coffee cups are actually always recyclable.
2 – Sit-In to Eat
Whether you are going out with friends or you are buying food for lunch one day, try your best to sit in the food place and eat. By this I mean, by using the facilities for washable cutlery, plates, and glasses. If you think this is not possible then try your best to bring your own reusable and washable cutlery, plates, and glasses.
3 – If ordering takeaway bring your own reusable containers/cutlery
As I was saying above, if you can’t sit in to eat then try your best to bring your own reusable and washable cutlery, plates, and glasses. Just like the reuseable coffee cups, this will help reduce the amount of un-reuseable products in the world. I personally have tried to stop buying food as a whole and have tried to only eat homemade food. Not only does this work better, in my opinion, but it is the cheapest and most likely the healthiest option.
4 – Reusable Water Bottle
Keeping with the reusable trend, a reusable water bottle can dramatically change the environment. A lot of people already do carry their own drink bottle and it is so so so easy to simply refill your drink bottle rather than buying a new one. Not to mention it is way cheaper. More bang for your buck while also dramatically help out environmentally.
5 – Minimise printing
As a student, we all have to print out, write out, draw out, and so forth. It is literally part of the studying process. However, this also requires a lot of paper. I personally was printing out a minimum of 10 pages per unit per week. I did 4 units last semester. So that is a total of approximately a minimum of 40 pages per week. For each semester there is 12 weeks worth of content. So that is a total of approximately a minimum of 480 pages per semester. A standard bachelor’s degree is approximately 3 to 4 years depending on the field. So that would be 6 to 8 semesters of 4 units and that would be approximately 2880 to 3840 sheets of paper. “500 sheets use 6 percent of a tree.“ “One tree makes …8,333.3 sheets.” So that is approximately 34.56% to 46.08% of a tree per student. Now, how many students do you think are currently doing a bachelor’s degree? Keeping this in mind I found a way to effectively take notes on my laptop and print only what is really genuinely needed. For example, my exam notes. I compile important bits and pieces into a new word document and print that approximate 20 pages per unit out. That works so much better as it allows a dramatic drop in numbers and also allows me to go over my notes 3 to 4 times.
If you are still with me, congratulations!!!! The main thing to think about when it comes to these things is to simply try and figure out a better alternative. I still have heaps of room for improvement and I will hopefully be able to think of new and better ways to reduce my impact on the environment. Let me know what steps you have taken or if you have any suggestions in the comment section below.
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As always, thank you for being the Samosauce to my Garam Samosa!!!
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Garam Samosa 
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