Kembrel

Life Style Tip 1: Put your laptop down for a nap when you’re not using it to creep on Facebook or to conduct more noble work.

Switching your portable computer to sleep mode in between work sessions can boost time between charge-ups by nearly 30%.  Moreover, assuming a typical work time-to-sleep mode ratio, you can save 25.87 kWa each year.  With approximately 11 million laptops used by college students, so with KWa’s at 11.5 cents a pop, undergraduates could facilitate a combined savings of $32 million dollars each year!

 Product Recommendation: Green Smart Laptop Sleeve

Since indecent exposure is a class 1 misdemeanor, consider cloaking your computer in one of Green Smart’s eco-friendly sleeves instead of toting it around naked.  Green Smart laptop sleeves are fabricated entirely from recycled plastic bottles, and unlike the vagrant look captured by other eco-friendly creations, Green Smart offers an array of bright colors combined with modern graphic designs.  In addition, the “neogreen” material is waterproof, so don’t worry about a clumsy beer spill wrecking your computer like last night’s beer(s) did to you.

 Lifestyle Tip 2: Can Bottled Water.

If you attend university in a developed nation, chances are, drinkable tap water is readily available.  Nonetheless, developed nations are the number one consumer of bottled water, a product concept whose absurdity rivals the Snuggie blanket.  The annual energy demanded by the bottling and distribution process approaches 50 million barrels, while privatizing municipal water supplies deprives local communities, as chronicled in the documentary, Thirst.  Perhaps the most obvious deterrent is the outrageous retail price:  Commercial bottled water costs nearly 5 cents per ounce while tap costs a mere 1/128^th of a cent.  If each broke, parched undergraduate adopted a re-usable water bottle regimen, the collective savings would exceed $2.8 billon dollars each year!

Product Recommendation: Hydros Water Bottle

The Hydros product trumps competitor water bottles with its in-built water purifying filter system enjoyed by both typical water drinkers and those with refined water palettes.  These sleekly-designed bottles are BPA and phthalates-free with a three-month filter life.  And, if you enjoy supporting charity, hydros bottle sales assists the joint Operation Hydros–Engineers Without Borders USA effort to deliver drinkable water to the African village of Gundom, Cameroon!  

Lifestyle Tip 3:  Add Some Plastic to Your Wardrobe.

 Eighty percent of perfectly re-usable plastic wastes away in a landfill (most likely based in New Jersey) instead of re-entering the market as a new product.  However, innovative designers are transforming these mountains of forgotten plastic into a new polyester-like thread called Ecospun.  Reports indicate that for every 150 jackets produced, 42 gallons of oil are saved and half-a-ton of toxic emissions never hit the atmosphere.  If each college student added one ecospun apparel item to their closet, nearly 4 million gallons of oil would be preserved and 48,000 tons of emissions would be thwarted. Another perk is that PETA won’t douse you with synthetic blood for donning animal-originating fibers.

Product Recommendation:  Sweet Skins’ Eco Fleece Hoodie

Sweet Skins, an Oregon-based clothing maker, sells its eco-friendly products in boutiques across America, including California, Colorado and North Carolina.  The continually impress consumers and analysts alike with their wholesome approach to clothing manufacturing.  In particular, they feature an eco fleece wrap that is stylish, soft and warm for the coming winter months!  Available colors include purple, black and blue.

 Julie Lefkowitz is a graduate student at UPenn studying Biotechnology.  She completed her undergraduate degree at Emory University where Atlanta’s eclectic neighborhoods cultivated her interest in local fashion designers and farmer’s markets.  In Philadelphia she can be found frequenting neighborhood clothing boutiques and supporting regional farms by volunteering at Fair Food Farm Stand in Reading Terminal Market.  Apart from trying to save the planet, she enjoys training for half-marathons, following interior design trends, and learning French