Earth Day Library Green Tips

Earth Day is this Friday, April 22. Here are some ways you can be more green in the library:

#1 Recycle your beverage containers and unwanted paper. The library has plastic bottle and aluminum can recycling bins on each of the 4 floors of the library, located just past the elevators near the computers. Make sure you uncap bottles before you deposit them, and don't stick paper, food, or anything else in the bottles. A lot of contaminated bottles could cause a whole bin to get trashed rather than recycled.You can also recycle unwanted paper in bins near the printers on all four floors.

#2 Conserve Paper

Double Sided Printing: You've probably noticed that the library printers are set to print on both sides of the paper, and that's a great paper saver, unless you are required to print single-sided for a class assignment. You can temporarily reset printing to single-sided this way: From the Print box, select Properties or Preferences. From the Printing Shortcuts tab, select General Everyday Printing instead of Two Sided (Duplex) Printing. Remember to do this ahead of time, and you won't waste paper by having to reprint. Also, try asking your prof if he/she will accept double sided printouts. You may be surprised.

PowerPoints: Did you know you can print more than one PowerPoint slide on each page? You can print 2, 3, 4, 6, 0r 9 on one page by doing this: from the Print box, look in the lower left corner for Print What. Choose Handouts instead of Slides, and choose how many to print on one page.If you're pulling a PowerPoint from D2L, you may have to save it to the computer you're working on before you can get this option. Simply choose Save instead of Open when you click on the ppt.

#3 Conserve energy and water

• Turn off the lights in the group study rooms when you leave.


• Take the stairs instead of the elevators.


• Don't let the water run when you wash your hands or brush your teeth. Yes, a lot of people brush their teeth in the library.


• Don't flush every time you use the toilet. (Ok, maybe leave that one for home)


• Staff: turn off your computers when you leave in the evenings and set your computer to an energy saving mode for when you're away from your desk