Sustainability. If you live on campus, you are barraged by this term daily. “Be sustainable.” “Sustainable living.” “Recycle.” “Do your part.” “Be Green, Go Blue.”

Enough already, we get it. Don’t waste. But living on a college campus can make it difficult to “reduce, reuse, recycle,” especially if you’ve got a packed schedule, which all of us do! I know that I’d rather spend my ten minutes of free time relaxing watching TV instead of sorting out my recyclables…but I do it, and you should too.

There are other ways to promote sustainability efforts that go beyond sorting out paper from plastic. One of the easiest ways is monitoring your water use. It may seem trivial, but those tips on water conservation from 2nd grade are pretty useful. Don’t leave the water running when you brush your teeth, keep to short showers, etc.

Let’s get serious though, there’s more that you can do. You might not know it, but corporate giants like Nestlé are pumping water from Michigan, and selling it back to us anywhere from $1.00-$3.00 a bottle…and this is water from Michigan’s lakes, streams, and rivers. They don’t pay to pump it, but we pay to drink it…how does that make sense?

Giants like Nestlé have been authorized to pump around 218 gallons of water per minute–and that’s after the Michigan Government gave them that as a regulation. Talk about a lot of water.

There are still struggles with major water bottling companies today. So why should you pay money for water that you could theoretically drink for free? Privatizing water has been a hot topic in Michigan especially since it is so precious a necessity. You don’t have to continue paying for water.

This might sound obvious, but you could think about buying a refillable water bottle. There are various water bottle refill stations around campus, one in Angell Hall for example, where you can easily place your water bottle on the platform and it fills it for you. That means you just saved 3 bucks. Nice. Buying a refillable bottle is a great investment and it’s helping the environment. If you don’t have time to sort your paper and plastics, take the first step to reduce your plastic use in general–but try to get on sorting, please! Plus, refillable water bottles keep your water cooler for longer, which definitely comes in handy in this weather! Also, they don’t contain the potentially harmful chemicals that the flimsy plastic bottles do.

Camelbak Waterbottles

The fashion world is getting more sustainable too, it’s a trend that is going to continue building…Be one of the first to be part of the trend. Think about making the switch from boring plastic throwaways to wonderful refillables, you’ll be glad you did!

-Inga Shoberg

Photo: gadgets.boingboing.net