Eye Opener: Photo Essay

I never took the time to realize all of the little things UMD has to offer when it comes to being environmentally friendly and promoting recycling right here on campus. I would always see various items throughout the halls as I would glance at them, but when I really took the time to look I realized there actually is a lot of different ways in which UMD promotes helping the environment. I had never noticed all of the different recycling bins compared to garbages, and all of the little signs placed throughout campus as well. I was actually surprised to see all of this, and in a way I guess I took it for granted, and never really appreciated the efforts that were being put forth right in front of me. All of the pictures that I found were in the parts of the schools where I usually am, and I was able to find all of this! I am definitely going to explore the rest of the school and see what else UMD is doing!

 Burt's Bee, organic shampoo and conditioner that is offered right in the student store. Along with this there was also lotion, and chap stick as well. This is an easy investment, and very accessible to all students. It also wasn't too expensive, so it would be appealing to students as we all go for the cheaper items. The colors were also something that caught my eye as I was wondering around.

 There is a section in the freezer in the student store dedicated to organic and naturally grown frozen foods. I have to say the enchiladas, pizza, and mac & cheese did look quite delicious. I actually ended up buying an organic pizza (never had this before) and ended up loving it. This was a great investment that I will be buying more of.

 "Go Green" light bulbs that were also found in the student store. All of these were energy saving bulbs that were on sale. This is the perfect idea for everyone, especially the students who live right on campus and need a bulb for a desk or bed lamp. I also bought one of these for my lamp at home.

 "We Recycle!" This is a just a simple recycling bin (as there is a ton of these throughout the school) but a little effort goes a long way. The top of the bin is shaped so only paper could fit into it, which saves a lot of time in the long run because people get lazy and if it were bigger any type of garbage would be thrown into this. This saves time and money by not having to sort all of this out when the garbage is taken out.

This is just a simple recycling bin, but I saw so many of these ones! In the gym and athletic area alone I counted 9 of them! This is just a simple gesture but is easy to do and makes it impossible for there to be liter around, because there are so many garbages scattered throughout the school!

 Right outside of the gym and weight room there is a station to refill a water bottle. This is a great idea to have after everything we learned about the pricing and garbage that comes from plastic bottles. This idea is very beneficial, because instead of buying water it is easily accessible right when you are done working out! I use this piece of equipment almost daily.

 To go along with the idea of having your own reusable water bottle instead of a plastic one that would just be thrown away I found these cool UMD ones right in the student store as well. There was a lot of different kinds, like the color scheme and design, but these just happened to be my favorite! This is a great idea to invest in one because you are promoting your school and have easy access to water all throughout the day, which is the most important nutrient for you to ingest.

 This was what I believe to be the best idea when it came to recycling that I saw. This was located right outside of the library, which is the perfect spot as many students (or should) go there. There was 4 different compartments, each with a different place to recycle from bottles & cans, trash, aluminum, and plastic. This would make it simple to sort out off the garbage and recycling if people would just take the extra effort and put there trash in the right spot. I definitely believe this to be the best idea!

"Be bright. Turn off the light" This was on the light switch right in a bathroom. This is a great idea to have this sign here. There are many times I go into the bathroom, or even our locker room and no one is in there, but the light is still on. If we would simply put this sign there we would be saving a lot of electricity. I actually put a sign like this in our locker room right by the switch, just so we could help to conserve energy when we are not in there. It is already catching on, which is very exciting to see!

The University of Minnesota-Duluth is home to all of us, and really is making an effort to help keep our school and community clean with offering so many ideas and various equipment to help, so there really is no excuse to not have a beautiful school. Let's all do our part and help keep UMD environmentally friendly!

Check out everyone elses's ideas!