Association

As young people. we as students will experience the direct consequences of climate change for the next generations. Therefore, it is key that we play a large role in trying to solve the issues of tomorrow by acting today. It may seem that the actions of a group of individuals are neglectable on large scale, but real change starts with individuals. Below we have a couple of suggestions on how you can be more sustainable yourself!|
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1. Take shorter showers
   When you take a 10 minute shower, you use over 70 liters of water. Try to take 5 minute showers instead! 
   
   
2. Buy second-hand clothes
   Not only because this helps to reduce the production of clothes, it also gives perfectly fine clothes a second chance and this prevents them from being thrown away.
   
   
3. Plan your meals
   As you can imagine, planning meals helps reduce the amount of food that is thrown away. By planning meals you can estimate what products you will use and you won’t buy more than needed.
   
   
4. Skip a meal with meat…
   … and eat vegetarian or vegan instead. The meat industry is one of the most harmful industries for the climate. Even skipping meat once a week will make a big difference in the CO2 emissions.
   
   
5. Skip the airplane!
   Flying, too, is one of the worst things you can do to the climate. To illustrate this: going to Berlin by airplane costs 390 kilograms of CO2, while going with public transport only costs 90 kilograms.
   
   
6. Turn off or lower the heating
   About 19% of the CO2 emissions in a household come from heating. Another reason to take shorter showers, but also a very good reason to lower your heating and wear a (preferably second-handed!) sweater instead.
   
   
7. Don’t buy a new phone every two years
   Even if you can get one for free because of your phone subscription. The production does too much harm to replace your old but fine phone with a new one.
   
   
8. Bring your own coffee cup
   We know the RuG offers paper cups, but one look in the bin proves that this leads to a lot of waste. Bring your own reusable cup instead!
   
   
9. Don’t buy plastic items
   But buy items made of steel, bamboo or other sustainable materials. The plastic soup is bad enough as it is.
   
   
10. Dry your clothes on a laundry rack
    Because dryers are not sustainable, but also because this way your clothes won’t wear out as fast.

For extra tips and information, take a look at https://www.milieucentraal.nl/klimaat-en-aarde/klimaatverandering/klimaatklappers/#je-huis