Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day 2013, I've decided to share some of my earth tips that I've always found helpful that you can use in school. Please mind that this is from a student's perspective.

1. Turn the lights off when not in use

When I was in high school, my class used to turn off the lights during our lunch and recess breaks. The main reason we did this was because some of us liked to use the breaks to catch up on sleep, so they thought closing the lights would help them sleep better. This is good because it not only conserves energy, but it gives the classroom a "cooler" setting because you don't get the heat from the fluorescent bulbs.

2. Reuse old school supplies

Not only will some of these provide nostalgia from time to time, but it'll save you a ton of money as well. Now that I'm in college, I re-use some of the old filler notebooks from high school, as well as a pencil case I've had since 3rd year high school, and for the entire first semester, I used my bag from 4th year.

3. BYOB (Bring Your Own Baunan)

If you're like me and you come from a high school were there are food stalls that sell food in those paper-covered-with-plastic containers, this won't only help you save the environment, but help you save some money.

4. Save Water, shower together

So after PE class, some of my blockmates and I tend to get really sweaty, so we decided to shower together. No, not literally together under the same shower cubicle at the same time (Well, we've done it once or twice when the place was really packed HAHA). But what I mean is that you share cubicles. For example, there are 4 of us taking a shower. So instead of using 4 stalls, we'll use 2 stalls instead (1 per pair). We'd usually wait it out, and take turns. Like when one of us has to soap, we'd step out of the stall and let someone else rinse it out.

5. Use public transportation/carpool

From grade 6 up until 4th year high school, I carpooled with on my good friends, who just happens to be my neighbor! Also, I know a lot of friends who commute on public transport going to and from school. This not only saves money you'd normally spend on a lot of gas, but you'd lessen a lot of the fumes that would be released by a lot of cars.

6. Re-use old papers

As a biology major, I've had to make a lot of reviewers in order to memorize shit. Also, I've had to sketch a bunch of shit as drafts for many different projects. Instead of writing (or occasionally printing) them on new sheets of bond paper, I prefer doing this on old sheets of papers I've used before for projects and stuff. I seem to never run out of reusable, one-sided papers.

7. Buy secondhand books

Now that I'm in college, I don't get my books during enrollment period. I have to wait for my prof to tell me that I need a certain book before I go out and buy one. Lucky for me, the biology society has a program where upperclassmen sell their old texts books to undergrads and freshmen who need the books for their classes. It'll save you money because books like this usually go for a fraction of their original price, and you'll lessen the paper needed to print new books.

Those are my tips for the day. Hope you'll be able to use them like I have :)

Keep Dreaming.