Living on WashU’s campus can make it difficult to take initiative to be more environmentally conscious. Environmental consciousness/sustainability does not mean making your carbon footprint a perfect zero; rather, it’s about being more aware of how your practices and habits affect the environment, and about taking steps of any size to reduce this impact. Here are a four ways that you can easily make your actions more sustainable:

Sharing With A Purpose handed out free reusable metal straws to students Nov. 30. Students also had the opportunity to make holders for their straws from upcycled shirts.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and a new student-run business looks to take this philosophy to another level. Trading Post, a new Student Entrepreneurial Program (StEP) business on the South 40 aimed at promoting sustainability on campus through “free-cycling,” opened last week.

Known as SWAP a student-run non-profit collects and donates to charity any unwanted reusable items University students leave in their dorm room over the summer.