Green Basics: Four Ways to Go Green While Saving Green
By Yeisa Martinez
Bronx Journal Staff Writer
With the passing of Earth Day, I was thinking how we, as students, can help reduce our carbon footprint on Earth. If you aren’t familiar with the term, according to www.carbonfootprint.com, “A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc.”
With the way the climate has been changing due to global warming, we should all be trying to find ways to help reduce our carbon footprint and give back as well. Knowing that this is not an easy thing to do especially when we are already caught up in our busy student and working lives, I decided to break it down to basics:
Say No to Starbucks: Here in school, I often find myself drained and in need of a pick me up when it comes to energy. I go to Starbucks on campus and love the Chai Tea, but hate the $4 price tag that comes with it. If I buy two Chai Lattes a week that is almost $9 out of my pocket and a total of almost $500 dollars a year. So, I headed to the supermarket to find an alternative. What I found is many other options to satisfy a caffeine craving.
Bigelow has over 20 types of tea. One box of 20 only costs $2.99 which leaves each cup of tea come out to only .15 per serving. At home I can make it with ease and at school I can warm up some water in a mug, use the cafeteria milk and sugar and voila, I save green. Each year Starbucks serves over four billion cups of coffee. That is a lot extra garbage stacking up in the landfill. By using a mug, you can save big on green and save Mother Nature as well.
Takeout Giveback: Instead of tossing your takeout containers in the trash, you can normally recycle them if they have the imprint underneath. If not, then you can reuse them. Instead of buying lunch at school, why not make lunch instead. By taking a couple of minutes to prepare food, you not only save money, but also the earth by reducing the waste that would have been your garbage from food you purchased.
Being conservative, at a rate of $5 a day five times a week, that is $25 you spend at a minimum at school or work for lunch. In a year that’s over $1000 that you can save, while helping keep trash out of bins. Reuse those containers. Keep one at work or even in your backpack.
Recyclable Batteries: Stop giving all of your money away to Duracell and Energize. You can save big on batteries for the remote, Xbox controller, and digital camera by using rechargeable batteries. I’m not talking about the old school way that my mother taught me of putting the batteries in the freezer. You can goto Staples or shop online, where you can buy a charger and a pack of four batteries for less than $20.
The average pack of batteries is about $3 for two. So imagine how much you can save a year, if you just recharge. If you used 10 batteries a month, that’s about $30 a month and over $200 a year that you can save. Also, since you are not dumping old batteries each month, you are helping out the environment as well.
Skype and Oovoo are Awesome: I often need to study with other students and to share notes at times for big tests or research papers. I have been lucky in the past because I have been able to meet up with friends at the library. It is a great way to interact, but stop and think for a minute. If you could meet up with your friends through Skype or Ooovo, not only do you save time and energy but you save the earth from more carbon emission, since you don’t jump in a car and burn gas.
On Skype you can easily talk to someone remotely and do video as well. If you want to have a big group, Ooovo has an option for groups of up to four people. If you do not have Internet access, then you can do three-way calls to one another and conference each other in that way. You don’t have to travel and increase your carbon footprint. Saving the earth while saving green is always a great thing to do.