Sustainability

      For class today we got to plant trees on campus.  Typically, I am not excited by gardening or landscaping, but it was to support a good idea so I was all for it.  We were planting trees to offset our carbon emission on campus.  To be honest, this was the best way to get rid of this emission because many people, including myself, are not aware of everything they do and how they are affecting the earth. 
     I admit, I am not a tree-hugging, let's save the whales individual.  I use energy and I typically do not use it wisely.  However, my parents are very concerned with saving water and energy so as not to run up our utilities bill.  Some of these ideas have carried over to college with me.  For instance, I take quick showers because I am so used to taking quick showers so as not to waste water at home.  This habit grew on me my sophomore year of high school when we had a drought in Raleigh and everyone was finding ways to conserve water.  Another habit I have is to not run the heat unless necessary.  Thankfully, I am typically a person that does not enjoy heat in the winter because I like to be cold as opposed to hot so the heat is never on in my dorm room.  We do however run a mini-fan at night to add some air to the room because even though we aren't running the heat, it is circulating throughout the dorm and naturally making our room hotter than we would like. 
     Although I am proud of these two contributions I have to supporting sustainability there is more that I could be doing.  Typically, I turn the lights on when coming into the room regardless of the time of day.  I could help conserve energy by only turning the lights on when it is dark or rainy and absolutely necessary.  During the day, turning the light on is not necessary and a habit I should stop.  If I only turned the light on when necessary, there is so much energy I could be saving.