A Day in the Life: Taking notes
Jessica Vogt
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Opinions & Editorials
Recycled paper may also have been bleached in the manufacturing process. Bleaching processes release dioxins, known carcinogens, into the environment. Furthermore, any dyes coloring the paper pollute water sources just as dyes in clothing do. If the paper's shipped halfway across the country, this uses non-renewable oil in the process.
The best option is to just grab paper that has one clean side from the recycling bin next to any printer and make your own notebook. This uses good paper that would otherwise be bleached to make new paper or, even worse, wind up in a landfill, where up to 40% of solid waste is paper!
You can make a notebook by stapling one-sided sheets together between cardboard from a cereal box. Or if you're stitch-inclined, sew sheets to a reusable, durable fabric cover. Works beautifully. Also, it's free!
Now you're ready to get out your pen and take notes. Odds are during class you're professor probably will hand you paper to read: an article, a lab handout, a work sheet. Is it printed on two sides? If not, ask your prof if she wouldn't like to carry half as much paper to the next lecture. What if you get emailed a PDF? Well, if it's not something you just have to read closely and scribble all over, why not read it on the screen? Adobe PDF readers -- depending on version -- let you highlight and comment right on the screen just like you would on the paper. Plus, it saves you walking all the way down from your room to the computer lab to print.
Theoretically, you could get through an entire school year without using a single new sheet of paper, assuming your prof doesn't mind getting handed double-sided essays. If everyone started doing this, how long do you think it would take Lawrence to create no single-sided paper waste?
See you next week in the library.
Sources: Zonbu, Linutop, National Geographic: The Green Guide, Wikipedia
The best option is to just grab paper that has one clean side from the recycling bin next to any printer and make your own notebook. This uses good paper that would otherwise be bleached to make new paper or, even worse, wind up in a landfill, where up to 40% of solid waste is paper!
You can make a notebook by stapling one-sided sheets together between cardboard from a cereal box. Or if you're stitch-inclined, sew sheets to a reusable, durable fabric cover. Works beautifully. Also, it's free!
Now you're ready to get out your pen and take notes. Odds are during class you're professor probably will hand you paper to read: an article, a lab handout, a work sheet. Is it printed on two sides? If not, ask your prof if she wouldn't like to carry half as much paper to the next lecture. What if you get emailed a PDF? Well, if it's not something you just have to read closely and scribble all over, why not read it on the screen? Adobe PDF readers -- depending on version -- let you highlight and comment right on the screen just like you would on the paper. Plus, it saves you walking all the way down from your room to the computer lab to print.
Theoretically, you could get through an entire school year without using a single new sheet of paper, assuming your prof doesn't mind getting handed double-sided essays. If everyone started doing this, how long do you think it would take Lawrence to create no single-sided paper waste?
See you next week in the library.
Sources: Zonbu, Linutop, National Geographic: The Green Guide, Wikipedia
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