Hauling your butt to campus for Friday morning classes is a chore, but making environmentally friendly choices doesn’t have to be. For those of you living off campus, here are some simple ways to be more energy efficient.

Walk. Most places in Syracuse are not far enough away to require a car, and it is fairly pleasant now while temperatures are still consistently above freezing. Fall is almost upon us in Upstate New York; you are supposed to be excited about the foliage. Or ride your bike, which has the added bonus of slightly irritating everyone driving down Euclid Avenue as they slow down to pass you.

When winter inevitably sets in, keep your thermostat down in the sixties and invest in some ugly wool sweaters. Extra points if you wear them without irony and relish in the frumpiness. Your National Grid bills will be lower, and you’ll burn fewer fossil fuels.

Be strategic with laundry. If you wear something twice before washing it, that is half as much laundry to do. Hanging up clothes to dry instead of putting them in the dryer saves energy like nobody’s business.

Make sure to hit up the local farmers’ markets. The food will have traveled fewer miles and required less fuel than most commercial food, plus you’re putting money back into the local economy. The gigantic Central New York Regional Market happens year round on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. near the Regional Transportation Center; the Eastside Neighborhood Farmers’ Market is on the corner of Westcott Street and Euclid Avenue on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.; and the Downtown Farmers’ Market is from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays in Clinton Square. The latter two markets wind down after Halloween. There are people in Syracuse not connected to the university, who knew.

Cooking for yourself — it is not as hard as you think, especially if you keep it simple. It will save money in addition to resources, plus you get leftovers. Hint: Use what you bought at the farmers’ market. Sautee veggies and make pasta, done. Meal plans are expensive, and there is no reason to support Sysco’s grip on institutional food. Get some friends together and improvise with what you have in the fridge for family-style meals. You can pretend you are having a sophisticated dinner party.

With all of the excellent food you will undoubtedly be making, compost the scraps. There are green bins all over the State University of New York Environmental Science and Forestry campus for compost, and there is no good reason to put all that glorious nitrogen in a landfill.

Last but not least, recycle. All the cool kids are doing it.

Leanna Mulvihill is a senior forest engineering major with a minor in environmental writing and rhetoric. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at lpmulvih@syr.edu.

Published on September 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm