Emma Sleeth is the author of It’s Easy Being Green: One Student’s Guide to Serving God and Saving the Planet. She recently graduated from Asbury College in Wilmore, KY. Her parents run Blessed Earth, a Christian environmental non-profit, and are both published authors. They love her but hope she gets a job soon.
Last week, I officially became a loser. I have to admit: it’s not really a new state of being as much as a new title. Yes, I’ve been lazy, unemployed, and living in my parent’s basement off and on for years. But it’s always had a much more glamorous name: teenager, college student, intern. Last week, though, my formal education ended, I turned twenty, and I moved back to my parent’s.
And thus began a new epoch in the life of Emma Sleeth.
Of course, like every other recent grad, I’m worried about finding a job in this economy. And it sucks to be living in a room that has only one window, two feet across, that looks out at ground level (I’m putting up with it, though, because you have to live in a basement if you want to truly be a bum and I just don’t like doing things halfway). But the worst part is I think my ecological footprint got bigger.
Don’t judge me too quickly. It’s not like I’ve suddenly started throwing Styrofoam in streams or anything. I still recycle, dry my clothes on a rack, and use compact florescent lights. We even compost at home, which my cafeteria at college didn’t. But there are certain things inherently “green” about living in a dorm that have suddenly disappeared. Without a roommate, I take up twice the square footage I used to. In college, there were always other people going to the same place, but now I drive by myself instead of carpooling. The idea of actually owning books and clothes instead of constantly sharing with the hundreds of other girls in my dorm is overwhelmingly not environmental. And I still can’t even have a houseplant in my room—although I don’t have north-facing windows like I did in college, a basement window just isn’t going to cut it sun-wise.
All I can say is that I’m an environmental heathen. I know, I know: shameful. Maybe one day I’ll redeem myself by getting some nice carbon-monoxide-consuming indoor foliage. In the meantime, perhaps you could help offset my ecologically paganish ways? And pray for me. Definitely pray for me.
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Some easy ways to be more green:
-change lightbulbs to compact florescent
-keep cloth bags in your trunk so that you always have them on-hand when you go shopping
-use fans instead of AC when it’s hot out and put on an extra sweater instead of turning up the thermostat during the winter
-use recycled office supplies
-dry clothes on a line instead of using the dryer
-turn off electronics when you’re not using them and unplug your cell charger once your phone is fully charged
-if you like coffee, drink only shade-grown blends and bring your own mug to work or Starbucks instead of using disposable cups
-go on a walk or bike ride instead of going to the gym to use the treadmill
-give environmental gifts: pass on a book you liked, make a donation to a non-profit in your friend’s name, or make a meal with food from your garden instead of buying something new
For more ideas, check out www.blessedearth.org or follow @BlessedEarth on twitter
