The End is Near

It’s the end of the semester and time to pack up and go home! Therefore, we are all doing a lot more cleaning and moving than we want to. There are plenty of different ways to reduce, reuse and recycle during your moving time.

Always keep Good Will in mind. There is a Good Will located on Main Street right by Kroger in Bowling Green. Here you can take all of your belongings that you no longer have a use for. Good Will accepts all of your household items, clothes, movies, books among much more. By utilizing Good Will, you are allowing people to reuse your old items that would otherwise be in a landfill taking up space.

Rent a moving truck, or use a large car. If you have a small car, like me, borrow a vehicle with more space. This is going to cut down on the amount of times you are driving around dropping off loads of your belongings. It only makes sense to use a large vehicle when moving, but I have found myself not taking advantage of them without realizing. This idea is more than just cutting down on your work effort, but also gas emissions.

While moving out, lay out multiple labeled garbage bags. You can label them for things like trash, glass, cans and cardboard, for example. This will make it way easier for you and your roommates to recycle. It may even get your roommates who do not recycle involved. Then once you have your full bags, drop them off at the recycling stations outside of the resident halls or at the Bowling Green Recycling Center.

As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

BGSU Encourages Students to Think Green

Professors around the world are encouraging their students to think “green.” Here at BGSU, there are multiple classes you can take to learn about the environment. Aside from just environmental studies classes, going green is incorporated into class discussion, projects and group organizations.

In an Interior design class here at BGSU, students were asked to create their own stores. The catch is that everything used to decorate the store had to be eco-friendly. Everything right down to the tile on the floors had to be made out recycled materials. This task was much more expensive and difficult to accomplish a few students from the class admitted. However, the students got a good learning experience out of it. They learned that the demand for companies to want to turn eco-friendly is increasing. They also learned that there are a lot of great ways to make a room “green.”

BGSU also has a group of students involved in “Friday Night Lights.” This group collectively goes around to campus buildings every Friday to power down the lights. If you think about all the hallways and bathrooms not used on the weekends across campus, you will realize there is a lot of waste. This small task leads to saving energy and money for the university. This project did not officially begin until fall 2010, but has been successful since.

Keep yourself optimistic to “green” projects; you never know when you may be asked to complete one!

As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Congrats Grad!

For those of you planning to go to college in the fall, make your dorm room eco-friendly. There are a lot of products out there that are good on the environment.

If you are looking for a new backpack, the Voltaic Solar Panel backpack is one to check out. It has solar panels on the outside sewn into the bag that produces around 15 watts of power. With the amount of wattage it makes, it can fully charge your laptop. It comes with all of the cords that you will need to hook it up to various small appliances. This way just by walking to class, you are charging your electronics!

They can be pricey, but if you are looking for a “green” computer the Mac Book Pro is the way to go. The LED lights do not use the same dangerous materials such as mercury and arsenic and is very energy efficient. Mac has a recycling program, where all of their electronics can be recycled—they will also take other brands as well. The battery is non- removable which reduces the amount of waste in landfills once it is time to get a new computer.

Another great eco-friendly product is Kindle. This is a digital library. It is six inches tall and can go virtually anywhere. You can download books right into the machine. You can also download magazines and newspapers. Kindle offers up to 275,000 books to choose from!
Congrats Grads! Start the next stage of your life a green one.

As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Bowling Green Goes Green

“Going Green” is touching close to home with many Bowling Green residents and students understanding the importance and taking the action to recycle.

Nowadays, with the threat of the global warming and the green house effect, the idea of going green has hit the media. The people of the Bowling Green area including Bowling Green State University have been contributing.
Everyday people pay a visit to the Bowling Green Recycling Center open 24 hours a day, located on North College Drive.

“I have been recycling here for years,” said Katie Bruning. “I try to make a trip up here once every two weeks and drop off my bottles and cans. I try and recycle because I know it’s the right thing to do.”

At the Bowling Green Recycling Center, you can bring out and sort your aluminum cans, books, cardboard, glass, magazines, newspapers and steel cans. The staff encourages you to clean out all bottles and cans to help make the compacting process quicker. The recycling center also does not accept any plastic bottles without the recycling logo, light bulbs, mirrors, trash or yard waste.

So what is Bowling Green State University’s Campus and students doing about this issue?

There are many designated areas on and off campus for recycling. There are a total of 900 bins and 250 stations located around campus. By visiting the BGSU website you can find a list of all recycling stations. There are also recycling stations in every class building and brown crates in every classroom for convenience.

“I always try and use the recycling places on campus,” said Ainsley Burgos, a Student of BGSU. “But, I know a lot of students who do not really. I think that the University could do a better job of promoting recycling and explaining how important it is.”

Casey Ross, a student of an environmental studies class, in contrast believes that the faculty does try to promote to its students the importance of recycling.

“I personally do not really recycle,” said Casey Ross, a BGSU student. “But, my [environmental studies] professor talks about it a lot though, so I would say that they do try and promote it.”

The goal of BGSU overall is to educate their campus on the issues of recycling and preserve and conserve natural resources. According to the BGSU website, since 1994 their recycling program sold more than $390,000 in recyclable material and saved over $400,000 in landfill fees.

The idea of recycling has affected many. On April, 22 the 40th anniversary of Earth Day was celebrated on BGSU’s campus. Students had the chance to learn more about ways to become involved with helping the environment by talking to different organizations. BGSU also gives you the chance to adopt your own recycling station to become involved. An organized group of people can support the campus efforts by volunteering to manage a station. In return, you are dedicated your own bulletin board at your station.

Bowling Green and its university are working hard on their efforts to become eco-friendly. Students both on and off campus have a variety of options where they can dispose of their recyclables. BGSU is still working towards getting their students educated and involved in their recycling program and has hopes for the future.

Bowling Green Windmills

The City of Bowling Green has been making efforts towards conserving. Bowling Green is the home of Ohio’s first utility-sized wind farm. In November of 2003, the first two went up and cost $4.8 million dollars. One year later, in 2004 the other two were put up for only $4 million dollars. They have since become a tourist attraction for the area. West on Route 6, you will find the four energy wind mills, each of them 257 feet tall. To give you a better picture of the height is to vision a 30 story building. Each of the blades weighs 22,000 pounds, just to give you another idea of how big they really are. They generate enough electricity for up to 3,000 people, or 785 homes a year. How do windmills produce energy? The blades of the windmills that are turned by the power of the wind are connected to an electric generator. As the blades turn, they are creating more and more energy. Then the electricity comes together through the wires. The Bowling Green wind mills produce 7,245 megawatts of power every hour. However, Ohio ranks number 37 in wind energy potential according to American Wind Energy Association in Washington. To learn more about the energy windmills of Bowling Green, you can visit greenenergyohio.org As Always, Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Happy Earth Day!!

Happy Earth Day all!


Forty years and counting. Earth Day started in 1970 and has been celebrated every year since. Today is the one day of the year where everyone should be involved in the green revolution! It is a day to take the time to help out your planet. Take the initiative to get involved and conserve.

In recognition of BGSU’s 40th Earth Day anniversary, today on campus they are making it easier for you to get involved. You can visit the eco-fair going on in University circle. There are over 50 different exhibits from different organizations, business and local government offices. It is the largest Eco-Fair Bowling Green has ever had to offer. A few exhibits that you can find there are Geojourney, Wood County Waste and plant retailers. There are plenty of opportunities to get trees to plant in honor of this day! You can also buy potted plants for your dorm rooms or house. Get all of your friends and family involved.

BGSU is also celebrating in others ways in honor of the holiday. The Kreischer SunDial has actually made their menu meatless to celebrate global warming.

Then at 7:30 p.m. you can find an Earth Day Panhel presentation. At the presentation you can learn about how the City of Bowling Green is working on the green revolution and construction. They encourage you to bring your questions and to get involved!

Take action this Earth Day.
As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

10 Most Eco-Friendly Colleges in the U.S.

Here is an interactive map of the most "green" American colleges. Check it out and see if you agree with the list that Sierra Magazine has rated as top 10. And notice one of them is actually from Ohio!



View Top 10 Eco-Friendly Colleges in a larger map

More easy ways to go green at school

I really liked how I gave examples of how to go green on a college campus. So, I am going to give you guys some more ideas that are easy to do.

Reduce

Go paperless. Now that you are on your own at school, you may be managing your own mail. A great way to go green this way is to have your mail e-mailed to you instead of through the postal service. You can get bank and credit card statements this way. even BGSU has gone green by making all of their bursar bills only available online to save paper!

Take the minimum. When you go to the cafeteria and grab some food, do not take more than needed. Just take the amount of napkins and silverware that you neccessary. If you take more than that, you are wasting what others could be using.

Use your computer in class. Take notes on your computer if you have a laptop. This is the complete paperless route.

Reuse

Save supplies. Whatever school supplies, like paper, pens and pencils, that you do not use this semester, use next semester! Save yourself the time and money.

Use binders. You can reuse binders every semester by just buying new refillable loose leaf paper. This is way cheaper on you since loose leaf paper only costs 50 cents at some stores. Plus, this is a great way to save trees!

Hope you guys enjoy these ones as well!
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Easy ways to go green today

Going green at college can be easier than you expect. There are multiple ways for students to reduce, reuse and recycle. Here are some great examples you should try.

Reduce

Print your papers double sided. Not all professors will accept you to do this on assignments, but print off assignment sheets and notes this way. I personally always print on both sides unless I am turning the paper into a professor. It helps you out by making your folder or notebook more organized!

Do not print anything you do not need. Save paper just by printing frugally. At BGSU they are only giving you limited prints starting fall 2010. This is a great way for the students to really question if what they are printing is useful. After so many prints, students will start to be charged for every paper printed.

Reuse

Buy used textbooks. Well, this one should be obvious. Most students want used textbooks not because they are recycled, but because they are cheaper! So use sources like Amazon and eBay to find used textbooks at a reduced price. If you still have a hard time buying the book, share with a friend!

Recycle

Borrow clothes. Share clothes with your friends. Once again most college students do this because we are lacking funds as it is. You may not have even realized that just by borrowing clothes instead of buying the same shirt you are recycling!

Hope you guys find these useful!
Reduce.Reuse.Recycle.

Save at the Laundrymat

Being a college student, there is one thing we all hate to spend money on. Laundry. I may not be speaking for everyone when I say that, however, I am sure that a lot of students would agree. I personally know a lot of people who would rather just save up laundry and wait to take it home (probably just so mom can do it).

When you are at school you have limited funds. Which is actually working to the planets’s advantage. When you wait to save up until you have a lot of laundry you are saving water. The bigger the load, the better. If you normally do, do your laundry here in BG just make sure you save up your loads. When you save up your loads you are saving more than water, but your own money.

When it comes to drying try to hang dry as much as you can. This way you will be conserving even more energy. Then once again, even more of your own money!

Also, do not wash things that do not need to be washed. If you can get away with wearing it again do it. There are plenty of times that you throw something on for an hour and then change. If you find yourself doing this, make sure you use judgment to see if it can be re worn.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Going Green at the Grocery

It’s been a while since I last updated!
So, over the week I have been to the grocery store a lot since I was gone for a week on spring break. What I have come to notice was that there is so much there that has to do with going green!

First, the deli. A lot people are buying lunch meat in gladwear containers rather than from the deli. This is a great way of conserving because you are getting a reusable container every time you buy lunch meat. This way you are not using the throw away plastic bags. Then better yet, once you do decide to throw the container away, they are recyclable!

And for those of you keeping clean, buy going green cleaning products. Clorox has its own line of eco-friendly products. You can also buy all purpose cleaner in refillable bottles. This way you do not have to always buy it with a new sprayer and bottle. Then, once you fill up your sprayer bottle, you can recycle the other!

Finally, at check out grab a reusable grocery bag for a dollar. Wal-Mart, Kroger and Meijer all sell them. This way you are reducing the plastic bags used. At Target when you use a reusable bag they take 5 cents off your purchase for every reusable bag you have. However, the bag must be purchased at Target.
As Always,

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Recycle Stations in the Area

I went around campus and took pictures of all the recycling sites! Now you know what to look for. Chances are you have seen them all before!

And check out the recycling center off campus. It is a great place to go for larger amounts of recycable products.

Don't Litter

No littering! If you want to help the world become a cleaner place, throw away your trash. When you litter, often the trash will end up in lakes, oceans or rivers. This ultimately leads to the large pollution problem that we as a world are battling with. Remember that pollution is not something that just an individual can help. The world needs to work together in order to see a change. Remind friends to make sure they are throwing things away properly. If you see them throwing their fast food bag out the car window, stop them! A small task such as that is helping. Then maybe the next time they go to do the same thing, they will stop themselves. May be a stretch, but it is just a thought!
Remember…by littering, you can also kill wildlife. Animals do not know better of what not to get into. If you throw something on the ground that is poisonous, glass, plastic or metal animals may try to eat it. Therefore, by throwing trash away you are saving the wildlife and the earth.

Try This!
Before you throw away your 6 pack plastic rings from your soda cans, cut each circle. This will help incase it gets to land or water animals. If it gets into the ocean, fish can get stuck in the circles. If it happens to be on land, a bird can get it stuck around its feet. So make sure the next time you come across one, you take the time to save an animal!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Fun and Easy Ways to Go Green

There are so many ways to go green aside from just recycling. You can do things like use reusable water bottles instead of buying plastic ones. If you do choose to buy bottled water, buy the bottles that are made out of recycled plastic.

Try to cut down on gas emissions by using your car less. Carpool with friends or coworkers. This is saving you and the environment on money and energy.

Another fun thing to do is to have a plant in your house or dorm room. This is healthy for not only the environment but you too!

Try and unplug appliances that you are not using. You should do this especially when you are going out of town for a few days.

Buy your fruit and vegetables from local markets. The pollution trucks gives off by transporting produce can be reduced this way.

Last but not least, look for the labels. When you go to the grocery store, look for packaging that tells you it is made out of recycled materials or are eco-friendly. Just by taking part in little tasks such as these, you will ultimately be saving your earth.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Check it out!

I have found something a little fun for you to try! I know that some classes at BG require you to take this quiz, but if you have not had to do it yet, try it out! It measures your ecological footprint by asking different questions that apply to recycling and conserving. It will give you an idea of how much damage you do the earth personally. After finding out your numbers, it may make you rethink what you are doing when you throw something away or turn off a light. The same website also gives you great simple tips on how to go green. It explains that before you can care about being eco friendly you need to be informed of the issues. A big issue that deals with conserving is global warming.

Educate yourself!

Global warming is the overheating of the earth caused by the green house effect. The rise in temperature leads to higher sea levels from the melting of glaciers and ice. This then leads to species extinction. Other simple ways to go green that are on the list are to cut down on your carbon emissions. Instead of taking your car everywhere, walk to the close places or ride a bike. Not only is it healthy for the earth but for you as an individual as well!


So if you are interested check it out and see your ecological footprint!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Why do I recycle?

I recycle for all the reasons we have learned about from elementary school. I recycle because it reduces energy usage, money and amount of pollution. On top of those things it preserves wild life, natural resources and land space. Basically to sum it all up, it is to save the earth.

We all know what recycling does and why it is important, but for me it is a lifestyle. I grew up in a home with multiple recycling bins for cans, glass and newspapers. If I ever decided to throw a glass bottle away in with the non recyclable trash, I would be told to dig back through the garbage and pick it out. Then I would always think to myself, what is the big deal? It is one bottle, chill. However, I have learned that it was not about that one glass bottle. It was about the bigger picture. That if I always allowed myself to be in a mindset of “what does it matter?” I would have never continued recycle.

Then I came to college. No more parents telling me what I had to do. Now it did not matter what I did with my trash, I could leave it on the floor if I wanted. It seems though that I was recycling without even realizing it. It was like programmed in me! Soon enough just from being around me, my friends were beginning to recycle as well. Hopefully I can have the same impact on you!

So here is your first task...
before you go to throw something away, check to see if it can be recycled if so put it in a separate bag or trashcan and start making a difference.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Why Recycle 101

There are so many reasons to recycle, 101 of them are here in this video! Take a peek and see why recycling is so important to so many people.

Welcome

It seems like these days going green is more of a trend than people actually trying to conserve. Everywhere you look you are seeing some kind of advertisement for an eco-friendly product. it may be in a fashion magazine, a hybrid car commercial or just in your local grocery store for a domestic products. The going green trend is in full effect. However, the purpose of this blog is to make college students want to go green for their own reasons, rather than just following the trends.

Being a college student and knowing how we think, we can be lazy. When a college student goes to throw something away, they may not care what bin they are throwing what in as long as it is out of their way. This is the type of attitude this blog is trying to change. On a campus like BGSU, recycling could not be made easier. Over the course of this semester I am going to give some helpful tips of just how simple it is to make your lifestyle a “green” one.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.