The Sierra Club came out with its yearly rankings of what they have determined are the top 10 most sustainable schools. Included in the list are schools like Santa Clara University’s neighbor Stanford, Duke, and UC Davis. Although none of them are SCU, it goes to show that schools across the nation are making an effort to become more sustainable.

UC Irvine made the list for their extracurricular environmental groups, its recycling rate of more than 70 percent of their trash, and hydration stations to reduce bottled-water waste. Yale is aiming to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions 43 percent by 2020.

What the list doesn’t show is the hundreds, if not thousands, of schools that are hosting similar programs and aiming for the same goals. A great deal of innovation and movement toward more sustainable living comes out of colleges across the world.

To check out what other schools are doing and get some ideas for your own, see the full list.

I live and die by my planner. When I lose it I am near hysterics and completely positive I am never going to be able to function again. Because I am overly attached to my planner, just any old planner won’t do. This year I was able to find a beautiful, handmade planner made out of 100 percent recycled paper.

One of my biggest complaints about most planners (besides poor layout and usability) is the overuse of plastic. I know that part of the reasoning is the plastic is durable, but it is also bad for the environment and just plain ugly.

Instead of digging through planners at an office supply store and hating every single one of them, I searched online at Etsy and found exactly what I was looking for. I love the minimalist design, the functionality, and the recycled materials.

I got my first textbook in the mail today. Nothing says your summer is almost over like the arrival of a textbook. I know it’s summer and one of the last things anyone wants to think about is school, but with a little planning you can save money and decrease your carbon footprint before next quarter or semester starts.

One of the most important parts of buying books for most college students is the price. We will do just about anything we can to make sure its as low as possible. And yet somehow people seem to forget to look for their books online instead of paying ridiculous prices through university bookstores.

Don’t know where to start? There are a ton of places online that offer used books (and don’t forget you can sell them back at the end of the year and get some money back : ) ) Amazon.com (my personal favorite. It’s easy to find something cheap, and Amazon will back you up if anything goes wrong with your order for any reason), textbooks.com, buyusedtextbooks.com, half.com, and cash4books all offer used books. You can also search your book by ISBN or title and edition in a search engine. If you do not mind being ripped off, you can also buy used through your university bookstore.

If you have an e-reader and don’t mind settling in to study with electronics, e-books are another great way to save on resources and cash. The only downside is that you cannot buy used or return them at the end of the course.

Planning ahead will not only save you money and the stress of finding the best deal possible, but it will also be incredibly sustainable instead of wasting the resources for a new book.

As students around the country move into their dorm rooms they are faced with what often feels like endless decisions on what they should buy and what they need. Price is often the most important factor in what everyone buys with most people believing the cheaper the better.

“Not Just a Pretty Face: the Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry,” by Stacy Malkan, made me equal parts depressed and hopeful. The book goes into the history of how some of the biggest changes in cosmetics have been made as well as some of the major groups fighting for safer cosmetics.

Outfitting a kitchen can be expensive, especially for college students. When I was planning to have a kitchen last year I imagined myself cooking multiple times per week and doing all sorts of intricate baking. I’m not really sure where this delusion came from given the fact that I had been in school for two years already and I knew how busy I usually am. This year I have a much better grasp on reality and what I will really need.

I don’t regret any of the things I bought at the beginning of school last year because I know when I am out of school I will use it all, but I do have a much better understanding of my necessities.

Two of the best purchases I made were also two of the cheapest. I took the time to find inexpensive glasses and silverware, and they ended up being even better than I anticipated. It seems like most college students live off of red cups or their slightly fancier reusable version. Instead I opted for canning jars, and they were seriously the best purchase. I have not stopped finding uses for my jars. They are great for leftovers, to bring a drink with me, use as a vase, and of course, drink out of.

My other great buy was my silverware “set” off eBay. Even with six people eating most meals in our apartment, we never ran out of forks and rarely were hunting for spoons.

It’s 9 a.m. and BART is crowded with the morning rush to work. My face is crammed into an incredibly tall man’s armpit as I am being pushed forward by the woman with a huge backpack to my left. When we finally break free and find a seat, the scent of the man’s deodorant wafts from the shoulder of my jacket and the woman’s perfume is hanging in the air across the two rows of seats that separate us.

Every morning for the past week I have settled onto the train and read “Not Just a Pretty Face: the ugly side of the beauty industry” (review coming shortly). This morning as I read about all of the chemicals in cosmetics, I looked up to assess the situation around me. The woman next to me on the bench seat is coating her eyes in a mascara that has been proven to contain lead and other harmful chemicals. The heavily scented individuals that marked me on their way in are wafting phthalates to the detriment of everyone. But above all, I am shocked by how little people know about what they are putting onto their bodies, even after years of research and news stories.

Record temperatures have been breaking out across the world this summer. As thermometers rise we are seeing the affects through extreme weather and an increase in ice melting. According to an article in the New York Times:

In a scant four days this month, the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet melted to an extent not witnessed in 30 years of satellite observations, NASA reported on Tuesday.

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NASA

The extent of Greenland’s ice sheet surface, in white, on July 8, left, and July 12, right, based on measurements from three satellites, which pass over at different times and whose data are combined and analyzed. The deepest pink areas reflect maximal certainty that the ice has melted.

On average, about half of the surface of the ice sheet melts during the summer. But from July 8 to July 12, the ice melt expanded from 40 percent of the ice sheet to 97 percent, according to scientists who analyzed the data fromsatellites deployed by NASA and India’s space research institute.

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“I started looking at the satellite imagery and saw something that was really unprecedented” since the advent of satellite imaging of the earth’s frozen surface, or cryosphere, said Thomas L. Mote, a climate scientist at the University of Georgia who for 20 years has been studying ice changes on Greenland detected by satellite.

While scientists described it as an “extreme event” not previously recorded from space, they hastened to add that it was normal in a broader historical context.

Although this melting has been seen before, it remains to be seen just how well this ice will return. It is also a great reminder to us that many glaciers and ice sheets have been melting at increased rates, and we need to take action before it is too late.