Pre-Thanksigiving
Describe one interaction you had with another student around the topic of unplugging appliances before leaving campus, sharing rides, or Buy Nothing Day.
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 11:13 AM
Describe one interaction you had with another student around the topic of unplugging appliances before leaving campus, sharing rides, or Buy Nothing Day.
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 11:13 AM
25 Comments:
Two for the price of one: I mentioned Buy Nothing Day to a fellow ENVS major, and got the reply of, "I'm still a consumer!" Too bad--early-morning prices overcome sensibilities about the environment and consuming.
As for rideshare, I hope to be sharing the car with at least one other student, hopefully two! It makes me feel so much better about driving all the way home.
I actually had some really good interactions with the residents in L/L C at the hall meeting. I mentioned a buy nothing holiday, and some people seemed really interested! I showed them a bad that I crocheted from old plastic bags and one girl flipped out and started saying how cool it is and how she's going to make them for a lot of her family. I also told them about ride share and a lot of them looked like they had never heard of it and asked me questions about it. I stressed how much cheaper all of these things were and at least this group of people seemed to really get into it. So overall, I had a really good experience with that.
Also, I was telling them about conserving electricity, and before I could even say it, this one girl jumped up and talked about how if your TV is plugged in, it still uses a lot of electricity even if it's not on, so I thought that was cool also. YAY L/L C!!
When telling people that they should unplug their electronics over break, they were very responsive, yet they seemed shocked at first. Many did not seem to previously know that although an electronic device is off, it is still using power if it is plugged in. Although they were responsive mostly, i don't think any of the people i spoke to will be unplugging their refrigerators. And i must admit, i did not shut mine off either (due to the dwindling points and not wanting to throw away food).
-Jenna
I talked to a friend of mine about unplugging appliances while we are away at break. I mentioned that energy is still used even when the appliance is turned off and plugged in. My friend had no idea and was shocked when I told him this. I also talked about Buy Nothing Day in my envs class. I gave ideas about different gift ideas for the holiday and gave an example that my family makes our presents instead of buying them.
-Natalie
I had a fantastic drive home with three random people I found on rideshare. I was happy to have company and gas money and they were happy to have a ride home. We had lively conversation the whole time about everything from politics (ok, no surprise there...I may have brought it up...) to the meal plan to music. And we stopped at the Putney Food Co-op to support a local, sustainable business.
-Kae
I spoke to someone in Christie about the necessity of unpluging appliances over break. Initially, they didn't really understand why. The person said to me if they weren't using it, the appliance couldn't be using up electricity (guess their roommate didn't talk to them about the visit I made to their room regarding "plugging in"). After a brief explanation from me, the resident said that they would be unplugging their room before break (yay!).
As for ride sharing: I haven't spoken to one person who drove home in a car with less than three people. (another yay!).
--Leigha
"Buy Nothing Day" was something that I had never heard of and was rather relieved that I had an excuse not to head to the mall/stores at ungodly hours. I mentioned it to a few friends and they were definitely empowered by the concept and I'm pretty sure they followed suit!
As for the ride share, I drove one person home, and knew of a few others who were planning on carpooling. What a great idea!
And unplugging electronics was something that definitely shocked those who I told. But, I think we are finally getting through to people.
Unfortunately, I didn't have very positive experiences as I tried to explain to several people before and after break about buy nothing day. Many of the people didn't grasp the idea of anti-consumerism and just laughed at the idea. They said that it was fun to get up early and get good deals....I tried...
hah. But I did have the opportunity to carpool with 5 people to my destination and 4 people back so yay for saving gas!
-Jen
In my ENVS class the friday before break we actually talked a lot about consumerism and "no buy day" aka Black friday. I was really interested in the idea because even thought he economies really not doing ok, I still think that people should buy what they need whent he need it, and if they do really feel the urge and need to buy on Black Friday, they should at least buy from companies that support being green or just their local shops instead of big department stores. My dads an economist so he was a little hard to reason with but we didn't go out shopping so I felt like I did my part.
As for rideshare I actually have my car up at school just so I can get back home. I keep it at one of my friends houses who lives about 10 minutes outside of Burlington and use it when I go home. So I carpooled home with one of my friends from back home that goes to UVM and I also took back with me some suitcases from friends at UVM that live in my town because they couldn't bring it all on the plane and such. On the way back up to school I drove up 2 friends, all of our suitcases, another persons suitcase, and my friends huge classical bass in a little blue HOnda Fit...it was a tight fit but it worked!!!
-Samantha Ethridge
I stayed with a friend in Rhode Island over break, and her family just thought that Buy Nothing Day was the funniest thing ever, and didn't take it seriously. I think we should try to find some statistics about how many plastic bags, how many new products, etc are wasted on Black Friday- I think alot of people have trouble making the connection between Black Friday and sustainability. On another note, outside the Providence mall, there was a large group of people protesting and holding a winter coat swap, just like we're planning on doing in CBWC this week! I thought that was pretty cool, and I hope it got the word out a little more! -Kate
When telling people about how important it was to unplug their appliances before break I was surprised to know that many of them weren't aware that appliances still use energy by simply being plugged in.
When it came to Buy Nothing day I discussed with my family how I want to try to have the greenest holiday possible. I bought my mom a painting made by a local artisan and plan on giving my grandma cloth bags to take with her to the grocery store. Especially after my envs lab last week and finding out that during the times of Thanksgiving to Christmas Americans use enough wrapping paper to wrap around the world I'm going to try to encourage my family to use recycled materials like newspaper and ribbons from previous years.
-Olivia
Before break, my friends and I all managed to share a ride to the airport, which was good. We also talked a lot about buy nothing day when I got home, most of my friends and I got together that day to play football, instead of going shopping. And my parents stayed out of the malls that day as well after seeing the report on the employee's death in a Walmart in NY. Also my roommate and I did work on unplugging most of our appliances before break and so did a lot of people in my dorm
Within my suite we talked about unplugging our refrigerator. The main reason why my suitemates didn't want to was because after break they were afraid to come back to a gross mess. I suggested that we take all the food out and clean the fridge. Then suggested we put a towel underneath it so that when it defrosted it wouldn't make a mess. With these suggestions they were much more open to the idea.
-Jess
Most of the people I talked to about unplugging appliances before break were already planning on doing that, which was great to hear. As far as the Buy Nothing Day, my friends at home didn't really buy into it, but I did successfully convince my whole family to stay home on Black Friday and we just enjoyed what we had instead of consuming so much more. And seeing as though I have to fly back to school, I didn't participate in any rideshare or carpooling experiences, but many of my friends did, and with all the snow traffic making trips take twice as long I'm glad they decided to share cars.
Casey
I was talking with my roommate about unplugging our refrigerator for the break and she was giving me SUCH a hard time about it. She didn't want to bring home the food we had in there and she thought it was nasty to leave the drinks in the refrigerator without it being on. I was baffled by this and it didn't help that the res halls said specifically for us NOT to unplug our fridges. I was not happy about it, but i figure since I drove three kids home that it made up for it....maybe.
:0)
-Briana
I actually ended up giving one of my speeches in a public speaking class on how to be more eco-friendly during the holidays. People reacted REALLY well, even excited about giving gifts that might not be traditional, but that don't involve buying more stuff. It was definitely encouraging to get positive feedback, and to see so many people engaged with learning how we can all produce less waste. I think that there are a lot of opportunities to get people really excited during this time with new, original ideas; I know I have already learned a lot just from researching, and am looking forward to making gifts and coming up with things that really will mean something to the receivers. Also, I know a girl who said she had managed to convince her family to have a local Thanksgiving, which I thought was really neat (of her and her family!).
Before leaving for thanksgiving break I walked around and reminded many people to unplug their appliances and for the most part most of them seemed willing. However, the most resistance came from people not wanting to unplug their fridges because they didn't want their food to spoil and when I mentioned bringing it home I don't think they were very into that idea either...yet on a good note a lot of people liked the idea of buy nothing day! It was surprising though that many people had not heard of it and asked what it actually was. In addition, many people I talked to seem to be carpooling with people home if they were not flying which is good news!
-Steph K
Most of the students I talked to didn't know they were supposed to unplug their appliances until their RAs posted a note on their doors saying they would have room inspections after they left for the break. The students didn't seem to understand that most appliances still use energy when plugged in even though it isn't on. Other complained about moving heavy furniture to unplug things. I hope everything was eventually taken care of so that Wills was using little energy over break.
-Caroline
I had an interesting conversation with someone using the ride share website. They said it sounded easy, and was easy to use, but not enough people knew about it to make it actually functionable right now. I think that this is correct, because everyone that I mentioned this sounded very confused. I think that this is something that needs to get advertised more. I personally did not use rideshare and I have a full car to get home, but I think that if people used rideshare it would be even better and easier.
-Rachel B
Before Thanksgiving, I told my friend Sean about the ride share program. I told him about how it was cheaper, more interesting, faster, and better for the environment. Instead of buying a bus ticket Sean went online and found a ride to his house in the Boston area. He told me when he got back what a quick ride it had been, even though the car he rode in did not have heat.
Dan Hale
I mentioned that saving money is also a great incentive for poor college kids to buy nothing this holiday season. I got a few laughs but students seemed to understand and contemplate the idea.
I am also a DJ at WRUV(the radio station on campus) and plug rideshare every night on my show. We have had more rides coming up for the holidays and callers seem excited about the program. In Jeanne Mance however, I hope to put up a rideshare sheet on my bulletin board so people can sigh up for rides that they need or rides that they are offering.
-Emily Casey
Before leaving for break my roommate and i made a solid effort to make sure everything was unplugged in our room before leaving, including bed-side lamps. We did however, forget to leave the door to the fridge open, and had some nice mold to clean out upon our return....woops!
Take care,
Hedda
As everyone was preparing to leave Thanksgiving Break I reminded all my friends to unplug unnecessary appliances etc. They were all surprised to hear that even when something is off and plugged in it uses "phantom energy." After that they made sure to unplug. I also mentioned the ride share to someone who had not heard of it before. Turns out they were able to hitch a ride home and enjoyed meeting new people at the same time!
-Lisa
I was able to convince my dad and sister to not purchase anything on Black Friday. Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult because my family is not a fan of shopping early or with a lot of other people around...but I decided to break it down a little more and talk about the importance of such a decision. Overall, I'd say it went pretty well. My next move is to start up a family buy-nothing/local Christmas..but we'll see how that goes...
--Winter
What upset me about the Thanksgiving break was that the sign-out sheets taped to the doors (at least those inn L/L) said, "DO NOT unplug your fridges for this short break."
WHAT?! Why not? I was actually asked about this a couple of times. I can understand that they might be trying to say, "Don't feel pressured," but unfortunately it came across as if something bad would happen if the fridges were unplugged.
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