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What is the Sustainability Trend all about?

Sustainability By: Vickie Pleska
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We've all heard about the three R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. A recently popularized term, "sustainability" has laid roots and is now catching the attention of communities across the country. Simply stated, sustainability refers to reducing the amount of resources consumed today in order to sustain them for their usage in the future. Take a moment and reflect back on your daily activities: bathing, washing dishes, washing laundry, watering the lawn, visiting the grocery store, drinking water from a plastic bottle. Or what about the daily visit to the local coffee shop for a light, no whip vanilla latte. All simple activities which many of us go through the motions daily without realizing the impact these actions have on our resources and environment.

To put our daily consumptions into perspective, here are just a few eco-facts

  • Glass is estimated to take 1 million years to completely breakdown
  • 14 million trees are cut down each year to produce approximately 10 billion paper bags used in the United States alone
  • Coal burning power plants generate approximately 50% of electricity in the United States
  • 2,700 gallons of water are wasted annually when you have a plumbing drip at the rate of 1 drop per second
  • 12 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce all the plastic bags used in the United States.


Though these are only a few statistics, they can be overwhelming and possibly discouraging to some. There is light at the end of the tunnel and we have the opportunity to make changes now to really impact the earth for future generations. Awareness is the first step to making changes and with the sustainability trend sweeping the country; more and more people are learning how they can play a role in the preservation of our environment.

The next time you are in the store, consider these "decision-making points":

  • Consider the materials used to make the product, this includes the packaging. Is the material raw or "virgin"? Re-used materials or recycled?
  • Consider the energy used to produce, store, transportation of the product as well as any by-products. Purchasing locally grown/made products can really impact all of these areas.
  • What happens to the product when you are done with using it? Is it reusable, could it be recycled or will it decompose fairly quickly?


More and more products are advertising if they are made from recycled materials, if they are recyclable or if they are organic. The sustainability trend is making it popular for companies to reassess their practices, make changes and then market their sustainability efforts to the public. This makes it easier for the consumer to buy sustainably.

To put your consumption in to perspective, visit the ecological footprint quiz at www.ecofoot.org and discover how your consumption impacts the conservation of our earth. Also for ways to be green locally visit setthetrend.wsu.edu for tips and Be Crimson Go Green messages.