Australia is far more environmentally conscious than anywhere I've ever been. It's great to see a society put so much effort into implementing simple, sustainable solutions.
I'll start with my housing. All the lights in the building are motion-sensitive, meaning they'll turn off after a certain amount of time if no one's there. In our showers, we have little timers that are suctioned to the wall, reminding you that, "Reducing your time in the shower from 7 to 5 minutes can save up to 30 litres of water!" Also, our room "keys" are actually cards that you insert in a slot in the wall to activate the electricity (most hotels use this system as well), which makes it impossible for anyone to forget their lights on all day while they're in class because they need to take their key with them to get back into the building. The fridge beeps after a certain amount of time if it's been left open for too long, a good reminder if you happen to not close it all the way. The air conditioning only works if it's 28 degrees celsius outside (about 82 F), meaning you can't just turn the AC on because you need the room to be a certain temperature or what not.
On campus, you'll find several "refill stations" where they've designed fountains especially for refilling water bottles (TO REDUCE THE USE OF 'DISPOSABLE' PLASTIC BOTTLES YAY) as well as having only wooden utensils at all café's. They've even got paper STRAWS. Real fancy stuff. There are very little plastic products on campus and it's great.
Just a few things I've noticed since I've been here.
I'll start with my housing. All the lights in the building are motion-sensitive, meaning they'll turn off after a certain amount of time if no one's there. In our showers, we have little timers that are suctioned to the wall, reminding you that, "Reducing your time in the shower from 7 to 5 minutes can save up to 30 litres of water!" Also, our room "keys" are actually cards that you insert in a slot in the wall to activate the electricity (most hotels use this system as well), which makes it impossible for anyone to forget their lights on all day while they're in class because they need to take their key with them to get back into the building. The fridge beeps after a certain amount of time if it's been left open for too long, a good reminder if you happen to not close it all the way. The air conditioning only works if it's 28 degrees celsius outside (about 82 F), meaning you can't just turn the AC on because you need the room to be a certain temperature or what not.
On campus, you'll find several "refill stations" where they've designed fountains especially for refilling water bottles (TO REDUCE THE USE OF 'DISPOSABLE' PLASTIC BOTTLES YAY) as well as having only wooden utensils at all café's. They've even got paper STRAWS. Real fancy stuff. There are very little plastic products on campus and it's great.
Just a few things I've noticed since I've been here.
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