SU Sustainability Warriors

Thinking way ahead I'll share that my staff decided to do a "white elephant" gift exchange last year with a commitment to not buy anything new, just find stuff at home to include in a fun gift exchange.  Then we drew numbers and everyone could choose a gift or "steal" someones -- great way to keep consumerism down for the...

I use a lot of pencils- I just researched which is better for the environment:  mechanical vs wood.  The answer isn't simple.  Wood decomposes but the lead is thicker and, depending on how the trees were harvested, the impact could be bad.  If you "don't lose things" you could be helping the environment by getting mechanical pencils...

I'm noticing that herb gardens often renew themselves!  You have to be careful with oregano because it chokes other herbs like thyme.  Basil reseeds itself and returns in the spring if you let it die in the planter.  Parsley has a few different lives throughout the spring, summer, fall.

I typically don't take straws and have a reusable cup when I buy coffee or tea. I do use plastic vegetable bags at the grocery story when I buy broccoli but not for most other produce. I could reuse plastic grocery bags for this purpose or a fabric bag. I use plastic garbage bags, but because we recycle, that's only one bag a week, although I'd...

The challenge is going steadily for me this year. 

I've been enjoying "renting" clothes from LeTote-  they have an enviro-friendly cleaning practice for all rented clothes.  We've noticed that we're doing much less laundry since I started using this service.  And it's helped to clean out the closet, too!

I have scheduled a routine checkup for later this month.

I've always wanted a windowsill herb garden.  I will now make it happen.

For me it means considering what I am thinking about tossing or sending to community aid and asking how I could reuse it or repurpose it in the future.  It does mean storing some items however I've been successful in not having to buy craft supplies such as cotton batting when my daughter has needed "stuffing" for a school project --...

In our department we have a new initiative, eliminating lots of paper- all forms for students playing on departmental recitals are now online.  It's been a long time coming but it's working great!