Taking care of the environment is something we should all be in together. Regardless of your age, social status, education, or background, you need to be aware of the impact you have on this planet. Young people can make a difference and change things around them just as much as any adult. This is why students need to take matters into their own hands and start acting more responsibly towards the environment.
Today’s students are the people who’ll be running the world in a couple of decades and they need to learn about the environment from the earliest age. There are several strategies, tactics, or basic rules students can apply to make the world a better place.
Take a look at the list below and learn about the things students can do to be environmentally friendly.
Use Less Paper
Paper comes from trees, which means the more paper you use, the more trees get cut down.
Although it’s inevitable for students to use paper and impossible for them to stop using it altogether, it’s still possible to reduce its use.
Therefore, students need to find ways to use less paper and encourage one another to start employing these strategies.
Here’s a couple of ways to reduce paper use when you’re a student:
- take notes on your phones or laptops using apps
- keep your schedules on laptops and phones as well
- share learning materials in electronic forms
- print out as less as possible
Instead of wasting paper, try making the most out of every piece that you use. And, if it’s not absolutely necessary, don’t use it at all.
Eliminate Lunch Packing Waste
Student’s lunches can be a source of plastic pollution and are something worth considering when we talk about the environment.
Students who bring their lunches from home usually pack them in little plastic containers. Most of these are for one-time use only.
This means that after every lunch, most students produce a huge amount of plastic waste.
This plastic later ends up in oceans or somewhere in nature, endangering animals and polluting the soil.
This is why students need to be “greener” about their lunches:
- use reusable containers made of glass or plastic
- use one reusable bottle for liquids
- stop using straws
- eliminate paper wrappers
- stop using plastic bags and go for an eco-friendlier material
Stop using huge amounts of plastic and make sure your lunch packaging isn’t harming anyone.
Organize Eco-Friendly Events
When young students unite and combine their energies, everything is possible.
This is why students should form groups or organizations within the school to discuss environmental issues they could try and solve on a local level.
Together, students could:
- clean up rivers or lakes
- remove garbage from nature in their city
- raise money for a green cause
- organize workshops and educate one another about going greener
- set up a school vegetable garden
- plant trees
Students have the power to impact people around them, and they could include friends, family member, neighbors and anybody willing to participate.
Eco Transportation
The transport used by students when commuting from home to school is another important thing to pay attention to when it comes to going green.
Cars are the most convenient and fastest option, whether it's your parents driving you, or you have your car. However, they're causing great pollution.
This is why, instead of driving to school by car, students need to explore other options:
- bikes
- electric scooters
- public transportation
“Students may feel like they’re too insignificant as individuals to make a change. However, thousands of students feel this way, so why not start with yourself? Eco-friendly school transportation can make a huge difference,“ says Estelle Leotard, an environmentalist and a writer at Studicus.
Promote Recycling
Recycling should be something that everybody does. However, there are many young people who don’t seem to understand its importance.
Students who care about the environment need to put the focus on the importance of recycling by:
- organizing lectures about it
- setting up separate recycling bins for different types of trash
- talking about the benefits of recycling
- passing this knowledge on to people outside of school
By learning and teaching about proper recycling, students can spread awareness and join the eco-friendly culture.
Unplugging
Student dorms and hallways are a great place to promote lower electricity consumption and being more responsible about it.
Everybody uses some kind of an electronic appliance on a daily basis. We tend to act careless about the way we spend electricity and it often happens that we:
- leave the lights on after leaving the room
- leave appliances we’re not using plugged in
- take showers longer than we need
All of this is leading to a huge amount of electricity being used for no reason. By wasting this power, we’re harming the environment.
Therefore, students should be more aware of this issue and start reminding each other to turn the lights off, unplug devices that are not in use and be careful about the way they're using power.
Eat Less Meat
Finally, there's one last thing on our list that we need to discuss. Students may not be aware of this, but what they're eating is another major issue and something which may harm the environment.
Meat production is one of the major sources of pollution today and here’s why:
- forests are being cleared to create cropland to produce feed for animals raised for food (PETA)
- fossil fuels are being spent in enormous amounts
- it generates global warming greenhouse gases
If students could reduce their daily consumption of meat, and turn to a more plant-based diet, they would be causing less damage to the planet.
Final Thoughts
It’s the little things that matter. Not everybody has to give up on all the things they love to make the world a better place.
Students can unite around simple ideas such as the ones listed above, and make a huge difference. Use the ideas above and start changing the way you spend energy or create waste. Be eco-friendlier and motivate others to follow suit.
Written by Kristin Savage
About the Author
Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she works as a freelance writer at GrabMyEssay. Kristin runs her own blog.
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