Sustainability Continued in 2024

While starting my journey on sustainability, I was afraid and thought making changes to my routine would be very difficult. However, having incorporated small sustainable changes into my lifestyle over the last two years has made me realize that even the smallest steps can help make this place better. In this blog, we will review the broad range of topics for a sustainable living.

The graphic below shows some of the common strategies. We have looked at some of these in my previous post. I will try to narrow it down to specific topics that interest me the most. I will share my personal experience and passion. 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Find alternatives for most used items. 

REDUCE -  As part of the waste reduction strategies, I had started practicing some like avoiding food wastage, avoiding single use plastics, using cloth bags for shopping, sustainable shopping and switching to reusable items continues to be in practice. This year, I wanted to analyze and control my contribution to paper wastage. As a student - when I took a stock of most things in my room it was mostly pen, pencils, erasers, notebooks, papers and markers. Just looking at the worksheets I had used over a marking period made me wonder if there is a way to reduce it. I used old notebooks to make rough work books. Created small note cards with paper printed on one side. I was also using printer paper by folding in pieces to make cheat sheets.  I realized the amount of paper in my room was too much and started tracking how much paper I was bringing home each week and how much more I was adding through my rough work. You can see the results of this analysis:

I started looking at the paper used for subjects like math, science, languages, test preparation and general art and craft project work. I split into schoolwork, rough work and homework. The chart above shows the weekly use of paper across subjects. I tracked this for about 4 weeks. I put them together in a tabular format and tried to create some graphs. The trend is as above. It is evident that homework and rough work are areas where I can reduce the use of paper. But I have little control over the homework, so I decided that I should tackle the paper from homework and rough work that was ending up in the trash or in the shredder. Based on my further research; the use of a chalkboard or white board seems like a preferable option.

RECYCLE: I went old school and got whiteboards to replace printer papers used for rough work. Picked up whiteboards from a nearby thrift store. Clothes, shoes and books are common things we recycle seasonally. For e.g; after the winter, normally during spring breaks it's a routine in our household to put away winter stuff for the next year. While going through the stuff like coats and shirts, we gathered items that can be donated. We also donated toys, puzzles, smaller bicycles and scooters. This year my mother added some extra kitchen utensils like Idli stands, blender, grater and cups which were hardly used in the last 3 years. We used old shipping boxes to sort out these items. Once the box was filled up, we dropped them at a nearby recycling center. I will try and continue this boxing strategy for the long term. 

REUSE: One more habitual change that I developed was to drink in reusable steel water bottles and cups (tumblers) instead of disposable water bottles and cups. Also, the practice of carrying a water bottle while traveling or dining out goes a long way in reducing disposable water bottles. During the last two years, excluding flight travel time, there was hardly ever a need to purchase disposable water bottles. 

Energy conservation: Making it a habit to:

1) Unplug devices that are fully charged. Unplug electronics which are not in use like TV, Computers, Xbox, Nintendo, and Chargers.

2) Switch off lights when leaving the room or when not really being used.

3) Make sure all lights in the house are turned off before leaving home.

4) Opening up windows for fresh air and reducing AC usage. I still remember a hindi chapter from school back in India about Prakriti ka AC. It taught me as a third grader that the natural AC was any day better than staying indoors.

5) Reduce the waste of indoor lights by opening up blinds to rely on sunlight. 

6) Change the thermostat setting by a couple of degrees to save energy.

7) Electronic detox - Spending time without the use of electronics. For example, playing board games like Sequence, going for a walk, playing TableTennis or Pickleball.

Water conservation: You can avoid water wastage by sharing water with others and not wasting it. Some strategies that I’m starting to follow are : taking shorter baths, closing the tap while shaving or brushing, checking for water leaks and reducing wastage of water. Instead of throwing away leftover water from the bottle, I tried to use it for plants. 

Sustainable transportation: Carpooling, taking a smaller car when only one or two people are traveling, walking, biking when possible, using cars in the electric mode as far as possible are some ways for sustainable transportation. I try my best to use the bus and avoid the need for a car ride. My father takes the bus or train to New York rather than driving.

Zero waste challenge: We are going to try a new challenge by creating zero waste. For example, ensuring lunch boxes come home empty, avoiding single used plastics, avoiding packaged food, and dining in instead of carrying out. 

Volunteering for local environmental groups and projects like park cleanups or tree planting are great ways to practice sustainability. Finally, it is very important to develop these ideas into a daily routine to make sustainability an integral part of our lives. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and my post encouraged you towards sustainable habits.

By: Rishab Iyer