Your role in combatting environmental issues as a university student
Ever bought something you never used? Think twice next time—your choices can save the planet!
From 2002 to 2022, the total amount of solid waste generated in Canada increased by 19 per cent and reached a whopping 36.5 million tonnes, according to Statistics Canada. When it comes to the topic of sustainability, university might not be the first place that comes to mind. However, our actions as university students play a crucial role in transforming various environmental issues.
You might feel like environmental challenges are too big for you to tackle, but that is far from the truth. There are multiple habits that students can adopt to play a significant role in saving and preserving our environment. The easiest and most efficient way to start is by decreasing our waste production.
What is the issue with waste production?
Waste production doesn’t just mean more things are piled up in the landfill. According to Earth Day, a website dedicated to the world’s largest environmental movement, the most common type of landfill—which accounts for 31 per cent of global landfills—is an open system, which contains various waste forms, including microplastics and toxic chemicals.
These landfills release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, methane is a huge contributor to climate change and can trap 84 times more heat than carbon dioxide over 20 years. Although methane doesn’t directly contribute to health issues, it does contribute to ground-level ozone, which has been proven as the cause or trigger for breathing problems, heart diseases and cancer.
I won’t go on a tangent about how waste production also contributes to water contamination, pollution, soil pollution and the damage of the ecosystem, because you have probably heard of it a million times. Now, it’s time for us to not only learn about these facts, but to take action.
So, what can you do?
To tackle these issues, we can start by being more vigilant in our shopping decisions. As a generation that grew up with the convenience of online shopping and amidst constant promotion of trendy products on social media, it is easy to fall into the habit of buying things we don’t actually need or want to keep.
For example, how often do you go on Amazon and order a trendy gadget that you’ve only used twice? How often do you get a new phone case or a new water bottle, just to toss them away for a new one next year?
These products might seem tiny and insignificant to environmental issues. But when each of us accumulates boxes of things that we keep buying and tossing, it adds up quickly. So, do your bank account and the environment a favour by thinking twice before you purchase and asking yourself: is the product actually bringing value to your life, or is it just another reason that people who live close to the landfills are having respiratory problems?
Another habit that we can easily build up is to use reusable bags and utensils. Now, I know this has been repeated many times in many places, but there is a reason that it is still being said: not sufficient action is being taken. If you use disposable coffee cups over twice a week, you are also guilty of this!
While it might seem convenient to use disposable plates to avoid washing dishes, think about this—in 50 years, would the idea still seem appealing when we can’t even breathe clean, fresh air? Would that plastic cup still seem more aesthetically pleasing if our children won’t ever get to see dolphins because dolphins have gone extinct?
Starting as small as bringing a reusable cup for your coffee orders, you can save 80 disposable coffee cups each semester (assuming you are ordering coffee five times a week)! Take that and multiply it by 8,000 (half the number of undergraduate students in the University of Toronto Mississauga)—that is 640,000 coffee cups that our campus alone could have saved in one semester!
As the younger generation, our actions do not only reflect our determination in resolving the environmental crisis – they also represent the respect we have towards our future, our well-being, nature and society.
Each of our actions and decisions today determines whether we will have a future where we still get to enjoy blue skies, swim in a clear ocean and experience the four seasons. Do your future a favour, and start by doing one environmentally friendly thing today.
