College life, for most of us, is all about living it up on a low budget. We hit up the bars on days we can get free drinks, and we avoid eating out on occasion because it’s just too pricey. Frugality is the essence of our livelihood, but it should also extend to where we live.
Let’s face it, residence halls and even off campus apartments aren’t anywhere near as cheap as we would like them to be. Living in one of the most expensive residence halls on campus, I can feel my money practically burning away every semester.
But what if I told you there’s a way to reduce your rent — not only on campus but off campus, as well?
It’s called living green.
And no, it’s not just a cheesy eco-friendly, hippie thing. It has its economic perks, too. According to Residential Life’s Communication Manager Jay High, if each of us did one little thing to lessen the amount of energy we use, it could significantly impact the rent we pay on campus.
For each residence hall, there’s an allotted budget that comes in partially from the residents themselves, and when the utility bills increase, the cost of living does, too. In essence, every dollar spent on utility bills is one less dollar spent on residential hall-sponsored events or one less dollar in our pockets.
It sounds a lot like we’re ripping ourselves off.
Thankfully, Catherine David, ResLife Communications Coordinator, has a way to help us stop this madness.
For the past two years she’s organized a campus competition known as Unplugged during the month of March, which was based on a global ad agency, Saatchi and Saatchi’s “Do One Thing” campaign.
Unplugged is meant to show students that if everyone made one small change, it could have a great impact.
Whether it’s taking the stairs instead of the elevator or just taking shorter showers, Unplugged is a competition meant to utilize the idea that little changes make a huge difference.
And it’s been working.
LSU residential halls like McVoy, Blake and Broussard utilize brand new, energy-efficient systems where various lighting, heating and water utilities have been replaced, and energy savings from students is easier than ever.
But it gets better — High says the upcoming building plans will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, which means our residential halls will be recognized as leading, eco-friendly buildings.
With more sustainable building and more energy savings campus-wide, there’s hope yet, not only for lower rent but for a more positive lifestyle.
All it takes is a little effort.
According to “Bright Hub,” a website featuring articles on sustainability, leaving computer monitors on overnight, or not having them on energy saving modes wastes 9 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. Whether global warming is real, such an excessive amount of carbon dioxide couldn’t possibly be healthy for the environment.
Turning off the computer, is one of the easiest things we could do — and the fact that it could save such an extravagantly large amount of gas is something we need to realize.
If the campus, with 17 residence halls, can manage to make such a dramatic change, then why on earth can’t each of our 30,000 students?
For the school, it could take millions of dollars, but for each of us, switching to a greener lifestyle is as easy as turning off your monitors and turning on your thinking cap.
Just do it.
Priyanka Bhatia is a 19-year old pre-veterinary medicine major with a minor in environmental management systems. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_Pbhatia.