Env #2: Tips to being Eco Friendly.

So Article #3! Tips to being eco friendly. This one originally published on WILD Magazine on Dec 27th 2019.
 

The Art of being Eco- friendly:

I would say the skill of living with a low negative effect on the environment should be a uni course it's so hard sometimes...but the idea of this article is how to do it cheaply and quickly, so let's just call this a crash course.

It feels near impossible to cut plastic out of your life, and indeed, where would the faithful uni student be without Tupperware leftover take out boxes, but whilst I'm not making the criminal suggestion of giving up pizza, let's talk about how to do it without harming the planet.

Telling you to walk to all your lectures might be a stretch in the rain, but in the sun, it's quite a nice walk so give it a shot! Take your notes electronically. It's easier on your arms AND you don't end up with paper wastage when you want to edit and improve your work.

(Hint Hint: it also means that if you write something you think of down that's super smart sounding you can copy and paste it into one of your essays without rewriting it or trying to decipher that 9am lecture half asleep handwriting)

Now this next one is a bit obvious, but it saves both the oceans AND money so let's just say it anyway: grab yourself a funky water bottle, and say goodbye to spending money every day on beverages, and go to bed safely in the knowledge that there is one less plastic bottle in the ocean.

If you're a real sustainability nut, the next one is a bit harder but it really does help. Agriculture is responsible for nearly 25% of all greenhouse gasses, and meat and dairy are a massive part of this, so if you're able to eat a little less meat, or have toast for breakfast instead on a few days, you're going to be making a massive difference.

But we go to York Uni, and that means we have such an amazing sustainability opportunity in that we have our own farmers market! You even have a couple to chose from with York Farmer's Market on the first Friday of every month on St Sampson Square or Shambles Market which is open 7 days a week from 7am, including over 85 stalls, so you're bound to find what you need. You can even source gifts, gluten free, organic and vegan produce!

Fashion is another quirky way you can help be sustainable when at uni. Keep your clothes as long as possible, revamp them to fit with the latest trend, or you know, just wear your favourite years old pair of jeans with pride. 

And if you really want to go nuts and be that eco friendly student, why not grab a bamboo toothbrush, or look up the noplasticshop.co.uk where you can buy a whole set of kitchen and bathroom stuff with NO PLASTIC INVOLVED!

So you see it's not that hard to be a sustainable uni student. In fact you're probably rolling your eyes saying you do a bunch of these things already. But from one concerned environmentalist to another, let's go ahead and spread the message anyway, because what's the harm.

Ani Talwar.