For many people, the idea of changing to a sustainable lifestyle sounds scary. It feels like a major commitment we have to make for the rest of our lives, like entrance into a strange cult, or sometimes, even like a useless effort to save an already dying planet.
But that’s not true!
Every individual effort counts, and students at Berkeley have already made great progress in improving their lifestyles and habits to include more sustainable activities. For example, we have compost, paper recycling, and glass/cans/bottle recycling in most public spaces and all private spaces on campus, as well as in the residence halls. And yes, people do actually sort their trash.
The look
Students living sustainable lifestyles don’t often appear any different. After all, sustainable living is a series of actions, and what outfit someone chooses to wear doesn’t really impact that. However, sustainable lifestyles can come with great, sustainable styles! A conscientious student looks for eco-friendly clothing and makeup brands, such as Threads for Thought or Amour Vert. Even better, considering a college student’s budget, is thrift shopping. The Berkeley campus is surrounded by great thrift stores where you can purchase secondhand clothes, or even sell off some old clothes you never wear. There’s Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads(no, not the dining hall), and Mars Vintage Thrift. But if you haven’t paid much attention to what kinds of clothes are in your wardrobe, now’s your call to action — go visit a local thrift store today!
The campus
Sustainability on campus is pretty cut-and-dry: sort your trash, don’t litter, don’t feed the squirrels (although they’ll probably end up stealing your food anyways). But there’s a few things that environmentally-concerned students do on top of these things, such as bringing their own water bottles. Reusing water bottles cuts plastic bottle waste right out of the picture and saves money. In fact, places like GBC are taking this one step further by offering discounts on coffee if you bring your own cup. CalDining also offers a Chews to Reuse program which lets dining hall patrons purchase reusable containers and cups for meal points.
The dorm
The living spaces are the place where most sustainable living habits come to light. Students practicing sustainable lifestyles have the needs as everyone else: desk lamps, electronics, and wall decor. Their secret isn’t in what they own, but how they use what they own. Extra lights? No problem – as long as they’re turned off immediately after use. Need to charge a laptop? Sure – but chargers are immediately unplugged after it’s done charging. The room is too bland? Of course it’s time for some tasteful decorations, from DIY projects to potted plants to eco-friendly bed sheets. There’s even eco-friendly washing supplies (dish soap, grooming products, air fresheners) out there.
Hopefully these statements sound like things you’re already doing. After all, sustainable living is built on small habits.
In the end, the point of all this is to say that we’re not all gallivanting heroes making 180-degree turns in our lifestyles. But we can’t afford to continuing living with the mindset that there’s no use trying to save the environment. And really, most of us are just taking small steps, building up small changes into big ones, and figuring ourselves out as we go.
By Beverly Pan