What Can I Do to
Make a Difference? 

Reduce your junk mail - http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm#step4
Ecocycle provides specific instructions for removing your name from mailing and solicitation lists.

Stop buying paper towels or paper napkins, cups, utensils.  
Use cloth napkins and dish towels and wash. Line dry if weather permits.

Buy Local: Support your local farmers market.
Buy locally roasted or fair-trade coffee.

Join a CSA with your roommates! Recycle Bob
Split the cost and have fresh veggies all season long!

Visit and patronize local shops that advertise green practices. Is your dry cleaner eco-friendly? Look for your local green guide.

Evaluate your home or apartment for energy efficiency.
Vacuuming under your refrigerator to remove dust can reduce the generated power by 40%. The same is true for stove-tops. Be sure to remove anything baked on. Check the seal on your refrigerator--does it hold a dollar bill?

Evaluate your car for energy efficiency.
The extra weight of unnecessary items in your car decreases your gas mileage. Proper air inflation on your tires increases gas mileage.

Keep a stack of single-sided paper beside your printer for making draft copies.

Dry clothes on drying racks or hang outside instead of using the dryer.

DID YOU KNOW?

*The average American uses 650 pounds of paper each year – 100 million tons of wood could be saved each year if all that paper was recycled.

*Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
*About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is only 28%.
(Facts from www.dosomething.org) 


Enough, For All, Forever: The Quest for a More Sustainable Future
Charles Hopkins, Education Canada, Fall 2009, Vol. 49, No. 4

 

 Get involved in the EER Department's recycling project...

Consider how many writing instruments are used on JMU's campus each year...then are discarded as trash when no longer functional. This recycling opportunity through TerraCycle enables the department to donate 2 cents per item to a non-profit agency of our choice AND minimize the waste we produce.  Look for collection boxes throughout Memorial Hall. 


Learn more about
TerraCycle Projects

 


Sustainability Committee
Home Page

Green Links for Educators