LiveGreen: Less is … less

It’s true — a lot of LiveGreen initiatives aren’t very razzle-dazzle.

We ask you to flip the switch on lights when you leave a room, shut the (fume hood) sash in your lab, recycle that bottle, and of course help with energy curtailment on those hot and humid days.

LIVEGREEN

by Melanie Stewart

There’s a high you get when you complete a big task, like planting a tree or, heaven forbid, emptying saline out of thousands of syringes. The end result is tangible, and you can see what your blood, sweat and tears accomplished.

But it can be hard to get excited about all that little stuff. Closing your mini-blinds? Unplugging unused items?

In reality, each one of those little actions counts and in a big way. You may not feel a high when you leave for the day and turn off your office lights, but you should: you are saving the world! How often do you get to say that? Each time you perform one of those tasks, you are making a difference. You are causing less coal to be burned, you are keeping the air we all breathe cleaner, and you are allowing your tax dollars to be spent on something better than utility bills.

I know what you are thinking: you turning off your lights or shutting your sash doesn’t make that big of difference. You are just one of the thousands of people who come and go from this campus each day and one light fixture or device or window is insignificant. Well, my skeptical friend, I’m happy to tell you that you are wrong.

Every action you take has an impact. Big or small, it all matters, and it all adds up. If everybody on this campus performed all of those actions, the end result would be huge. Still skeptical about others? Don’t be. Your small actions every day adds up over the course of a year. When it comes down to it, a little less here or there is still less overall and that counts.

These items are so impactful that LiveGreen created the Green U program, so you could be recognized for all of the things you do that matter.

So smile. Stand tall. Walk proud. You are saving the world without breaking a sweat.