Changing Habits

I like to think of myself as a person with pretty good habits. I rarely drink caffeine or soda, don't eat meat, exercise daily, and have gotten into the habit of sleeping at least 8 hours a night (a rare feat for a college student!) I'm not deluding myself into thinking there aren't things that I shouldn't change, though, especially when it comes to my environmentally-conscious habits. But in thinking of a habit I wanted to change, I struggled to find something that I actually thought would be worthwhile to change, and that I actually wanted to do. Go vegan? No, I would probably starve without cheese. Take shorter showers? My showers are already 10 minutes maximum, and I cherish those 5-10 minutes every morning. Stop using the dryer? I already hang up half my clothing, and there's no room in my dorm for a drying rack.

So I finally settled on something that I thought was both worthwhile and doable: going trayless when I eat in the dining halls. Many colleges and universities have already gone trayless; my friends at Pomona and Wellesley have no trays in their dining halls. According to USAToday,

"Some campuses that already have tested the concept report food waste declines of up to 50%. Then, there's the thousands of dollars in energy savings when trays don't need washing. An astonishing 79% of the 92,000 students surveyed this spring by Aramark said they support trayless dining to reduce campus waste." (USATODAY.com)

I tried it this morning at brunch, and I actually liked it! I took less food, wasted less, and felt good at the thought that a little less water would be used to wash my things. It's going to be an inconvenience at times, but I think that it's something that I can keep up throughout the semester and beyond.