Furthering my cause to reduce my carbon footprint.

I made a few new year resolutions when it comes to conserving the environment for 2010. This time, with the first half of the year gone, I attempt to further refine my goals and deepen my cause to reduce my carbon footprint. Here are some of the things that I would be doing now on:

Last semester, I attempted to use recycled papers whenever possible in the printing of my school notes and it was quite successful so far. I used mainly recycled papers for 1 of the 5 modules that I took in school last semester. That equates to roughly 15 to 20 percent of recycled paper use. I am going even further. For the upcoming semester, I attempt to not only continue the use of recycled paper, but print both sides of new papers for all the notes that I would be printing. Printing would strictly be done in black and white only. That would effectively halved my paper consumption while at the same time, continuing the use recycled paper and reduce my carbon footprint by using less paper. That would mean, less space needed to store my notes, less files to use, less costs in buying new reams of papers and files.

I am an avid reader and I have a number of books in my bookshelves as part of my books collection. From now on, I am going to attempt to borrow books, rather than buy as much as possible to meet my reading needs. So far, I have bought far less books that the year before, and this slows down my need for shelf space, reducing the need for more wood for bookshelves. This would help me to save substantially on new purchases.

My soaps and shampoos that I have been using so far, I am going to make an effort to reuse the bottles that i have and purchase only refillable packages, instead of new bottles, to reduce the amount of plastic waste that I have been making personally. This would also allow me to save a lot more money.

Im also investing on a good water bottle for school use and reduce my dependence on bottled water or purchased beverages in a cup. Im also going to reduce waste and money on buying drinks and beverages as much as possible.

On video games, music and movies: Im going to seek out and purchase second hand video games, like ps3 video games  more proactively than ever before. This would save money and also reduce plastic use through the manufacture of new plastic casings and discs. Whenever possible, im going through digital distribution of pc games as well as music and movies.

Any electronics that I would purchase in the future, would be more health and environmental conscious than ever before. Buy electronics that are of reputable brands, brands that are environmentally aware of its production processes and electronics that uses less energy than the ones that I currently have and would need in the future. The purchase of my Mac Mini is the first step towards a more sustainable use of electronics. Should I upgrade my LCD monitor in the future, I would only upgrade should the current one fail to function and would only buy a new one that is more energy efficient. I would pledge that I would no longer turn on my pc overnight despite its energy efficiency unless absolutely necessary.

I seldom use air con so that should be maintained.

I take short showers so that should be maintained.