Fifty Shades of Green
C L Ferrier How to Live Sustainably as a Student
1. Plant a Herb Garden 2. Dumpster diving If you’re searching for food look behind Bakeries and Supermarkets. Wear protective clothing and watch out for dangerous objects. Don’t give dumpster diving a bad name: clean up after yourself when you leave. WARNING some stores have been known to pour bleach over their waste food to avoid dumpster divers. Try to get in contact with others to share experiences and get the insider tips. Also be sure not to trespass or break any private property laws. 3. Recycling Make use of the yellow recycling bins on Campus to recycle cans and containers 4. Don’t waste water - Turn off taps you’re not using - Have short showers - Don’t wash cars in the hot sun - Be mindful of how much water you use to do the dishes
5. Don’t upgrade phone so regularly If it’s not broken: don’t chuck it out. Just because Apple makes 5 iPhones a year doesn’t mean you have to buy 5 iPhones a year. 6. Recycle eWaste appropriately eWaste includes mobiles, computers, TVs etc, and contains substances that can harm the environment. So don’t just throw these out! Councils generally have collection schemes where you can drop off old technology. Eg Randwick Council allows residents to drop off old mobile phones at Council Office (30 Frances Street, Randwick), or old TVs/Computers at the Recycling Centre (72 Perry Street, Matraville). For more information on this go to your local council’s website.
7. Divest from the fossil fuel industry by switching your bank and super accounts to fossil free institutions - visit www.marketforces.org.au for all the information you need 8. Bring a water bottle to uni Including the production of the bottle, it can take up to 3L of water to produce 1L of bottled water. A bottle of water = $2.50, refilling at the tap = free. There really is only one sensible option here. 9. Get involved in your local community garden, or plan t som e native Au str alian varieties if you have a garden of your
own.
10. Try homemade cleaning products. Challenge: try to find things you CAN’T clean with vinegar. Clothes, windows, drains, kitchen appliances, glasses are all taken, so you’ll have to be inventive. 11. Watch the enviro Youtube videos Search: UNSW SRC Enviro 12. Use reusable containers Be it lunches or leftovers, try to avoid glad wrap or aluminium foil. Use a takeaway container or tupperware box.
13. Reuse old things where possible - Old clothes = cleaning cloth - Save and reuse takeaway containers - Take leftovers = cheap lunch - Newspaper = mulch/gift wrapping paper/ decoration material/bin liner - Jars = groovy glasses - Old tic tac boxes = spice containers 14. If you’re considering building a house: use cob! This natural material made from sand, clay, water, straw and earth is cheap, fireproof, and stands up pretty well to seismic activity. Whatever variety of apocalypse occurs, you’ll be ready. (Idea credit to grand designs) 15. Milk crate bed base
16. Go to local op shops If you go regularly you’re more likely to find cool stuff. Avoid hipster hotspots like King St Vinnies unless you’re after some designer pieces - opt for the lesser known suburbs if you want value for money. Charity, recycling and a twisted kind of retail therapy all in one. 17. Donate old things to Vinnies If you have old clothes you haven’t worn in years drop them off in a clothes donation bin or bring them to the next clothes swap day at uni. 18. Don’t buy things you don’t need Huge amounts of energy are wasted in the creation and sale of items that end up going unused. So master the art of window shopping. Even an item on sale is too expensive if it will just sit unused in your home.
19. Buy Australian grown food Food that is grown locally does not have to travel as far before you buy it. This means less energy is wasted in storage and transport, and also ensures your food is fresher. Apart from helping the environment this also supports the Australian economy and local farmers. 20. Eat Seasonal Foods Similar to above: food that you buy out of season will have travelled a long way. Buying food according to what is in season also tastes better and is usually cheaper
21. Reduce Food waste To avoid food wastage plan your meals ahead and only buy what you will need. Also keep your leftovers—it’ll be a quick and delicious lunch the next day. 22. Don’t print stuff unnecessarily - Print double sided - Reuse old printouts as scrap paper - Read course outline/lecture slides online 23. Catch the bus/cycle/carpool Every time you plan to drive somewhere, consider if there is another option. Why get stuck in traffic alone when you could have a friend to keep you company? Why pay gym membership when you could just cycle everywhere? 24. Try to buy things with less packaging e.g. a massive bag of uncooked chickpeas over many cans of cooked chickpeas - environment (and student budget) friendly! 25. Green food colouring is your friend!
26. Hitchhiking Hitchhiking is a cheap, environmentally friendly and adventurous way to travel. However it is not risk free, so be prepared! Getting a lift can be challenging, with many drivers hesitant to pick up strangers. So make sure you have the essentials in case you get stuck unexpectedly. Eg map, food, water, flashlight etc. Be aware of the laws in the area: generally in Australia hitchhiking is legal if you stand away from the road and do not entice drivers into a no stopping zone. Just be sure you are not putting yourself or any traffic at risk. And as always be aware of who you get into a car with: they could be unsafe drivers or unsafe people. Do your research and be prepared and it will be infinitely more exciting than driving for hours by yourself. 27. Celebrate St Patrick’s Day every day! 28. Bulk buy items These generally have less packaging and can save you money.
29. Always use reusable grocery bags 30. Make glasses out of beer bottles You need: beer bottle, nail polish remover, yarn, fire, ice and sandpaper. - Wrap yarn tightly around beer bottle - Slide yarn off bottle and soak it in nail polish remover, then put on the bottle again - Light the yarn on fire - As soon as it has burned out, put glass in ice bath (the glass should separate where the string was— it may take more than once if it is thick glass) - After it has cooled properly, sand the edges down - YAY you now have a cool free glass (www.artofmanliness.com)
31. Start a worm farm Worm farms are a great way to recycle fruit/vegetable scraps, and leave you with great fertiliser. You can buy worm farms of various sizes at Bunnings or build your own. Then just add red or tiger worms (available from most nurseries) and food scraps. Set it up in a cool, shady spot and try to limit acidic foods and dairy products
32. Buy Fair Trade produce Fair trade requires companies to pay fair prices to producers and supports environmentally sustainable farming methods. So keep an eye out—does your favourite café sell fair trade coffee? 33. Paint your room green 34. Switch lights off when you leave a room If you’re not using it—turn it off
35. Drink lime milkshakes. Even better, go and donate some of that icky red stuff to the Red Cross Blood Service and they’ll be so grateful that they’ll give you one for free! 36-40. 5 uses for Aloe Vera - Soothes sunburns - Reduces itchiness of insect bites - Helps heal blisters - Can be used against acne - Works as a makeup remover—and isn’t harsh on your skin! 41. Thoughtful foods Thoughtful foods is a not for profit cooperative that sells cheap ethically produced wholefoods on campus. They are located behind the roundhouse. (thoughtfulfoods.org) 42. Write everything in green pen. (Green highlighters are also acceptable)
43. Pick up random stuff off the street: eg stuff people are throwing out/garage sales. Their garbage = your free coffee table! 44. Use energy saving light globes LED lights are preferable, or Fluoro 45. Join our Facebook group UNSW Enviro Collective 46. BYO = B r ing Y ou r Ow n M idor i 47. Don’t leave the heating on all night Before you go to sleep turn off your heater. Winter is cold, but we’re in Australia: it’s nothing an extra jumper/ blanket/fluffy socks can’t fix. This could also save you a lot of money, and significantly decreases the risk of fires in your home.
48. Eat less meat! Red meat is one of the most resourceintensive foods to produce - think of all the land for the animals, the land for the food for the animals, the fertiliser for the food for the animals not to mention that methane. Reducing portion size and frequency of your red meat intake will dramatically reduce your carbon footprint, so start perfecting that bean nachos recipe! 49. Pesto Recipe - 45g pine nuts - 1.5 cup fresh basil leaves - 2 small garlic cloves, halved - 60g shredded parmesan - 5 tablespoons olive oil Bake pine nuts in oven for 5min at 180째C. Cool for 10min. Then combine everything but oil in food processor until finely chopped. With motor running gradually add oil until well combined 50. Come to enviro collective meetings 10-12 on Wednesdays in the ARC offices
Brought to You by the UNSW Enviro Collective