It’s that time of the year when more plastic, paper, electricity, and trees are being put to waste; it’s Christmas! Not to say that all this material and energy saving isn’t going to a good cause because I think most of us can agree that making people happy is definitely a good cause. We all love unwrapping presents so that’s how wrapping paper goes to use, and plus Santa isn’t quiet the sustainable type.  Christmas light bring us all back to our childhood and leave us feeling happy. Now Christmas lights obviously waste energy what with the electricity being left on all night.  Trees are not only being cut down to decorate our homes, but sold artificially as well. Now this is destroying our environment fist hand; trees are literally being cut down! Along with all those trees come ornaments, which are mostly made out of plastic. Let’s not forget all the extra stock being created for all our Christmas shopping to go under our trees.

Obviously people aren’t going to stop wasting all this energy during Christmas, but it can all be cut down. I wish we would see more green Christmas products. Even better would be the use of recycle products. Ornaments can be made crafted creatively only using useless objects lying around the house.  Christmas lights can be turned on for a limited time at night. Making Christmas a greener time of the year can’t be that difficult.

I’ve been wasting a lot of energy this winter. I can’t sleep in a warm room; I need some sort of ventilation or air.  Not to say that I don’t waste energy in the summer because the air conditioner is constantly turned on.  Back home I would keep my window open in the winter and I would turn the heater on. My room was the coldest room in the house.  Here I have to deal with central heating and having a roommate, who happens to be always cold. There is no escaping the central heating in the dorm. We have no control over it! It doesn’t turn off! In order to deal with my extremely warm dorm room this winter I had to buy a fan, which is on the whole night, and whenever I’m in my room. How stupid is that? I’ve never experienced a winter this cold back home, and I can say that I’ve never used a fan in the winter. Not only is energy being wasted for heating, but also energy is being wasted on cooling at the same time!

The only solution I can think of is having the fan on, unless by some miracle the dorm would let me control the temperature. Opening the window is not an option because of my roommate, and the only reason she is okay with that fan is because it is directed strait at me.

After my trip to the UN I started thinking more about climate change and the variety of effects it has on the world. While back home the results of climate change are rises in temperate. Now I realize that environmental justice is a huge part of climate change. Not only in NY, but also everywhere.

After seeing the presentations I came to realize that environmental injustice is a real thing. Not everyone in New York was as effected by climate change as the lower class. I’ve come to realize that environmental injustice is very much happening back home. Now the rises in temperate can be traced back to carbon dioxide being released into the air, which happens when we drive cars, use electricity and so on.  Now the poor aren’t doing all of these things.  While we are sitting at home with out AC’s they are suffering the consequences; they are really experiencing climate change.  Now that I realize this I feel much more strongly about climate change.

As it is starting to get quiet cold in realizing that it is becoming more and more difficult for me to be a sustainable individual. I am trying to avoid the outdoors at all cost, which obviously is a pathetic abd impossible mission since I’m living in NYC.

My avoidance of the outdoors is not only bad for my health, but the environments health as well.  not walking or biking means using a taxi. Not leaving my room means the lights and tv are left on. All of this is not good, but what can I do?

WiBret won’t go away. I need to change. I have to adapt to this new lifestyle because staying indoors is not a good option. all I can do now is wear as many layers as possible!

Umbrellas are a product I have learnt to call a waste of plastic. Walking the streets of New York on those lovely rainy days lately I came to realize trashcans were mostly filled with broken umbrellas!  I almost came to throw away my one-day-old umbrella the other day because of the effect of New York’s crazy wind on it.

There are three options we can choose from in order to be a more sustainable city this winter; forget umbrellas; enjoy the rain, find a very well made Umbrella that can actually last a full winter, or finally find an easier way to recycle Umbrellas. If special recycle bins for Umbrellas only were spread around the cities, Umbrellas thrown away would at least not be a complete waste of material!!

This week the ink in my printer finished, and I haven’t had time to go buy new ink, so I’ve been printing everything I’m required to print for all my classes at the University Center, and I noticed that I’ve been there too many times this week, and definitely much more than necessary.

I probably haven’t been printing more than I usually do, but the only difference is that I’ve had to go to the University Center each time I’ve had to print a paper. Printing at home is so effortless, so you could print papers almost everyday, and not even realize the amount of paper that you’ve printing, but when you actually have to get up and walk too another building you realize the amount of paper you’re printing.

Not having ink was a good think and a bad thing, obviously a bad thing because getting up is just a hassle, and a good thing because I realized that I print papers way more than necessary, and will try and limit my printing as much as possible.

Organizing one of our kitchen closets the other day I could not help but notice the amount of plastic bags that had gathered there over the weeks. I actually felt quiet disappointed in myself staring at that pile of plastic bags.  I try to keep track of the amount of plastic bags I am leaving the store with, but it all ends up adding up without me even realizing it.

It’s not like I don’t end up using the bags. I do! I use the bags as trash bags! Still, even though I am using the bags the amount I’m using, as trash bags are far less than the amount I’m getting from stores.  Above that, even the bags I end up using as trash bags eventually go to waist when I throw my trash away.

I want to try and buy one of those reusable bags you find at almost any supermarket. Even though it’s a hassle to always have one around. It will  stop my pile of bags from doubling, or even tripling!

Every day of the week, right before I go to my morning classes, I make a cheese sandwich. I’m too lazy to use a plate and end up having to wash it afterward, so I usually use a paper napkin. Strangely, as out of it as I am every morning I really started to think about all those tissues going to waste because of my laziness.

Not only am I throwing away paper towels for no reason, but I’m not even recycling them. I know which recycling bin my paper napkins belong in. Do they belong with papers? I usually through my paper napkins in the waste bins because I don’t really see how they can be recycled after use.

Recently, I learnt that paper towels could be recycled as compost to enrich soil. I’m going to try and not use paper napkins as much =, but when I do, I’ll remember the correct way to recycle them.

Most of my classes are located at 2 west 13^th street, so I couldn’t help, but notice the crazy flushing toilets. This may seem like a weird thing to talk about, but it doesn’t make this subject any less important.

Every time I enter any of the toilet stoles the first thing I hear is the sound of the toilet flushing. Thanks to the well working censors the toilet basically flushes every time you make a move. One trip to the bathroom could result in three full flushes! The amount of extra water that is unnecessarily going to waste is insane!

The New School is considered a sustainable school, and I know they’re not all bad at it in this particular toilet flushing issue. The toilets at the new building have sensors located in the back, facing upward, and in order for the toilet to flush you have to have you hand directly above the sensor, so no unnecessary flushing takes place! It may be costly to change the sensors on 2 west 13^th street, but it would definitely save a lot of water.