Tips for going green

Illustration by MCT Campus.

Last Saturday, March 31, at 8:30 p.m. local time, people around the world turned off their lights for an hour. This event, called Earth Hour, was celebrated in a record 150 countries this year. Earth Hour began in Australia in 2007 and exists to send a message about climate change. This year “I Will if You Will” videos on Youtube challenged viewers to do “something awesome” for the environment.

Earth Hour has passed, but it’s not too late for you to do something awesome. Here are some ideas to help you get started:

1. Recycle. I cringe every time I see a copy of the Daily Kent Stater in a trash bin. There are recycling bins all over campus! It’s so easy to hold on to your water bottle or newspaper for a few minutes longer, until you find a blue bin to recycle it in.

2. Buy or make a reusable shopping bag. Those bags you see for sale by the registers at stores aren’t expensive, and using them saves a lot of bags. Also, if you wanted to make your own bag, you don’t even have to know how to sew to make one out of an old tee shirt.

Best of all, if you’re a CVS shopper, buy a Green Bag Tag for just a dollar and get an ExtraBuck every fourth visit that you use your reusable bag.

3. Pay your bills online to save trees, as well as money on stamps.

4. Choose hormone-free milk. Whether you’re an animal loving vegetarian or total carnivore, buying organic milk is a simple adjustment to make. Not only can the hormones cause infections for the cows, but some scientists believe they may also affect consumers like you and me.

5. Donate unwanted clothes, and buy used, too. Why contribute to the estimated 10 million tons of textile waste tossed away in landfills when there is surely a teenage hipster out there who would love that old sweater?

Don’t forget, Earth Day is coming up on April 22!