Environmental Health

Smog, acid rain, a fading ozone layer, air pollution, water pollution: these all take a heavy toll on our environment and our health. Your environment plays a significant role in your health and well-being. However, in order to guarantee that it will have a positive effect on us, we need to make sure that our environment is healthy. Some common conditions and diseases that are influenced by our environment are asthma, cancer, and lung disease. Sometimes in order to take care of ourselves we need to take care of our environment to guarantee a healthy lifestyle. There are many ways in which we can do this such as recycling, going green, or reusing. At home most of us probably have some system of recycling and access to green products. But when we come to school, it gets a little trickier. A lot of the time environmentally safe products are more expensive and access to recycling is limited. As students, our funds are small and our access is limited. But here are some ways in which you can still continue to live a more environmentally conscious life while not making life inconvenient or financially straining.

Reduce

Here are some simple things you can do to reduce your consumption: 

• Turn off lights when leaving the room.
• Open the blinds during the day and leave the lights off. Take advantage of the daylight to lighten your home or apartment. 
• Instead of getting bottled water use a reusable water bottle that you can refill. If you do not like tap water or do not have a water filter try to buy large 5 gallon jugs to avoid the excess amounts of plastic that individual bottles create. Not only will this create less plastic waste but it will be cheaper as well. 
• Try to walk or bike as much as you can or car pool when traveling long distances. 
• For new parents use cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers. 
• Unplug electronics when you are not using them or when they are fully charged. 
• Eat at home more often. This will reduce the amount of garbage along with save you money. 
• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth except when rinsing. 

Reuse/ Alternatives

• Make your own cleaning products not only does this reduce but it can also prevent more harmful chemicals from getting into the environment. Vinegar, baking soda, and salt are all great cleaners as well as eco-friendly. 
• Get the most out of your food. Some products such as lemons can be used as effective deodorizers and cleaners by using the discarded peel. 
• Start a compost and use it for fertilizer for a garden. 

Recycle

If you have not noticed yet, the BYU-Idaho campus is very environmentally friendly. All over campus and in every building there are recycling unit drop offs where paper, cans, and card board can be recycled. All thought these containers are not great for large drop offs they are equipped to take small amounts of recycling. Just bring your recycling with you on your way to class and just drop it off at the recycling drop off. They are usually located near the entrance of each building. For large amounts of recycling you can easily take a short trip to the nearest recycle drop offs located in Rexburg. These drop offs can be found in the Walmart front parking lot, Broulims back parking lot, Madison middle school parking lot, or Madison high school parking lot. 

Things that can be recycled: 

• #1 plastics (water, soda, cooking oil, and salad dressing bottles)
• #2 plastics (shampoo bottles, milk jugs, and plastic grocery bags)
• Aluminum cans (aluminum cans only)
• Office pack (printer and notebook paper, envelopes, and manila folders)
• Newspaper / catalogs (newspapers, magazines, phone books, and catalogs)
• Corrugated cardboard (corrugated cardboard only)

Tips for when you are recycling: 

• Rinse out all containers. 
• Smash or crush containers so that they take up less space.
• Get small bins to collect and separate different recyclables. This will both make things easier and faster when it comes time to drop off your recyclables. 

Resources:
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/
http://resident.rexburg.org/index.aspx?nid=234