Thursday, January 8, 2009
Green Resolutions for a New Year (Blog Series 4 of 6)
10:53 PM | 
Posted by
Amara Poolswasdi
Today's blog for
How to Green & Further Your Career During Winter Break
A Green Resolution: Not Expensive, Not Difficult!
It's that time of year again where people spend thousands of dollars on resolutions that fall flat a few days into the New Year. Depending on your perspective, I've cleverly procrastinated this blog post to either 1) postpone my resolutions or 2)...postpone my resolutions.
Here are some relatively easy ones you can incorporate TODAY and not feel the pinch:
How to Green & Further Your Career During Winter Break
A Green Resolution: Not Expensive, Not Difficult!
It's that time of year again where people spend thousands of dollars on resolutions that fall flat a few days into the New Year. Depending on your perspective, I've cleverly procrastinated this blog post to either 1) postpone my resolutions or 2)...postpone my resolutions.
Here are some relatively easy ones you can incorporate TODAY and not feel the pinch:
- Don't print emails unless absolutely necessary.
- Don't print paper proofs of any term papers or homework assignments. If you need some other people to proofread (we at the Rainmaker Network highly recommend it for those last minute term papers), password protect your work so that people can't openly plagiarize. A tutorial can be found at http://tinyurl.com/33h5ky
- Take it a step further: request that your professors receive term papers via email. Right now is an especially good time to convince them that receiving papers and homework assignments electronically is a great way to save paper, resources, time and money.
- Request that all of your appointments be held on campus and on the days you have classes. This is especially important if you are a commuter student. If you are involved with clubs and organizations that meet outside your normal school schedule, see if they wouldn't mind your presence at a meeting via Skype.
- Make carpool arrangements. It's as easy as asking around campus, utilizing free matching services online and networking. You can share the responsibilities, the gas bill, and the naps on the road.
- Take public transportation whenever you can, whether it's once a week or for one month straight. And, with all the money you save, reward yourself (with something sustainable and eco-conscious, of course!) or donate your savings to a good cause.
- Winter may be a bit chilly this year, but turning down your thermostat a few degrees will save you some change and save some energy.
My green resolutions for 2009 are....
Post a comment! We'd love to hear your thoughts.
- Consume less fish: I'm already a pescatarian, but over-fishing by industrial fishing fleets are a big problem for the ecosystem. If I weren't a pescatarian, I'd try to consume less of any animal product that was not locally-grown, organic or free-range.
- Keep my tires properly inflated and rotated when needed. (My father would be proud!) Keeping them at a proper psi and rotating them means that I don't have to replace my tires as frequently. It also improves my gas mileage by around 3.3%.
- Utilize reusable shopping bags. We have these nifty Rainmaker Network tote bags that I've yet to use to their full potential.
- A different kind of "green" resolution: I want to raise money via Facebook, Twitter, the Rainblog and other Web 2.0 outets but I have yet to decide on the cause. When I do I'll let you know!
Post a comment! We'd love to hear your thoughts.
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2 comments:
Hi Rainmakers!!
I am working on my green resolutions for the new year. I am starting to recycle more items and looking to buy things that are made from recycled materials.
Hey Amara....how about selling the nifty reusable Rainmaker Network tote bags and donating a percentage of the proceeds to a worthy not-for-profit eco-conscious organization. Put me down for one if you decide to do so!!
Happy New Year!!
Sandy
I was just thinking today about going online and searching for ways to "go green." Thanks for posting this blog, apparently I didn't have to look very far.
Anyways, my green resolutions for the new year are to remember my reusable bags when going to the grocery store, to turn off lights that aren't in use, and lastly, to get everyone in my house to keep the heater at a lower temperature.
Happy New Years to you all!!
Lauren
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