Coexisting Revolution – EVST 100: Intro to the Environment

I wake up bright and early every day, scrambling to find my shower shoes in the dark while attempting to not wake up my peacefully sleeping roommate. First daily activities include brushing my teeth and washing my face. Shoot! I always forget to grab my hand towel! There goes about 15 paper towels. And the girl next to me seems to have forgotten her hand towel as well. 15 more gone. Oh well. I need to focus on my Chemistry exam in half an hour.

My chemistry teacher hands out a considerably thick packet to each person in the class. I’d estimate there are about 30-something students in the class. And oh she teaches three sections. So she printed approximately 100 copies of these packets?! Holy crap. But wait, THEY’RE NOT EVEN DOUBLE SIDED. She must really not like the environment.

Later as I’m doing my math homework, I notice that the first three problems took up a whole page. Each. But I have to show all of my work to get full credit. Sorry trees.
I actually didn’t realize how much paper I use daily. I never considered if it could be reduced or eliminated, but over the course of that day I noted every time I would use paper, and let me tell you, it adds up!

My last post discussed the proposition for my sustainable behavior challenge to go completely paperless. Now after a week of observing my paper-prone habits I realize that the proposition is nearly impossible. It is impossible to dodge the single-sided Chemistry exam packet or my extensively lengthy Calculus homework problems. I would have to drop out of school if I really wanted to live a paperless lifestyle. So I have set a goal for the sustainable behavior challenge to only consume half the amount of paper that I normally would without limitations.

The article attached discusses a prospective model of reducing human dependence on paper through technological innovations. It is amazing to me how the digital notepad has evolved to mimic a paper notepad and even surpassed it in consumer convenience by being lightweight, clear resolution, using an electronic pen, and even allowing the user to search key words to navigate through notes more efficiently than searching through a jumble of unorganized papers. However this technology may be a little premature for our time. Most people still prefer to read off paper than a screen and the device loses some convenience factor with respect to leisurely and recreational purposes. And I doubt that paper manufacturers are closing their business any time soon.
With all of that being said, the most plausible conclusion is for paper and its digital counterparts to coexist with one another. I plan to go through with the sustainable behavior challenge in exactly that manner.

http://0-web.b.ebscohost.com.libcat.lafayette.edu/ehost/detail?sid=9a457bce-556e-4788-8816-cde8e3a42dd3%40sessionmgr115&vid=4&hid=112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=17764782

Electronic notepads look like actual paper pads!

the ePaper revolution. Geographical (Campion Interactive Publishing) [serial online]. August 2005;77(8):36-37. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 1, 2014.

Elizabeth Troisi says:

April 21, 2014 at 1:13 am

I really admire all of your attempts at going paperless, there were many things that you’ve said here and in your other posts that I didn’t even think about! I definitely agree with you that it is impossible to go completely paperless because some things are out of our control. One of my biology professors uses a lot of paper, just like your Chemistry professor did with the exams; he’ll give us packets upon packets of paper because we don’t have a textbook for the class. Many of these packets are primary research articles that I know I could find on my own and read them on my iPad or computer, but he prints them off before class and I know he wouldn’t remember to not print me a copy even if I asked. I think your goal of only consuming half the amount of paper that you usually do is very smart and achievable and will leave you feeling more accomplished than if you attempted to go completely paperless!

Carmina Spencer says:

April 22, 2014 at 4:56 am

I really liked the way you explored the issue of paper usage. It would be nearly impossible to go without it, but by thinking just a little bit harder it is easy to diminish it at least a little bit. I think that maybe one thing that is a problem with us at Lafayette using way too much paper is the free printers in the library. As much as I LOVE not having to pay for printing, maybe if we did have to pay people would think twice about how much space they use and about whether or not to double side (I mean really, should this even be a question?). I agree with you though that I never really put too much consideration into paper usage until the project started. It is just not something that ever really seemed to occur to me. I’ve yet to start actually looking around in class too much just because it seems a little too blaringly obvious just how embarrassingly much paper we waste every day!

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