I pledge to LIVE GREEN by selecting 3 or more of the following actions:
 
Replace my incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). CFLs last 10 times longer and use 66 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs while delivering the same light levels. CFLs accrue net savings between $30 and $45 over their lifetimes and reduce your carbon footprint! It’s a bright idea!
 
Inflate my car tires.  Inflating your tires to the recommended pressure can improve your gas mileage by about 3.3 percent -- a savings of about 12 cents per gallon.  Check your tire pressure monthly. Keeping the tires properly inflated on an average car that travels 12,000 miles a year will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 29.1 pounds a month.
 
Wash and rinse in cold water. If Americans switched to cold water with their washing machines, we could save about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide each year and more than $3 billion in energy costs.  That’s a lot of pocket change! Cold water cleans your laundry just as well as hot water.
 
Drink more drinks from reusable glassware and bottles. It is estimated Americans throw away 2,000,000 plastic bottles every 5 seconds.  Consider bringing a reusable beverage container to class and work. 
 
"Pull the plug" on phantom electricity and turn off lights. Many appliances still consume energy even when turned off. Items left plugged into the wall, such as a cell phone charger, can leak more than 20 watts of power. According to Conservation International, in the United States alone, "phantom electricity" emits roughly 12 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Avoid this by plugging home and office equipment into a power strip and turning it off at night and on weekends.  Turn off lights when not in use.
 
Recycle and reuse paper. TCU uses a single stream recycling system, which means all of the trash goes to an off-site recycling center for sorting, resulting in nearly ¾ of items being recycled.  Simply toss your paper, magazines, cans, bottles, and plastic items in the trash and it will be deposited in the tan TCU recycling dumpsters located at numerous locations on campus.  Purchase recycled paper and use both sides of a piece of paper before recycling.
 
Walk, bike, carpool and use public transit.  TCU GO CARD transit cards are issued free to students, staff and faculty at the TCU Police office or Student Service info desk in the University Union (http://www.the-t.com/tcu.html).  You can ride the bus and trains in Fort Worth and Dallas absolutely FREE!  Use Facebook Carpoolers to find a carpool or hop on a bike to reduce your carbon footprint. 

Adjust my thermostat.  Turn down your thermostat 3 degrees in the winter and up three degrees in the summer and you can prevent the emission of nearly 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. 
 
Buy locally produced food and organic items. Food travels on average 1,500 miles before it reaches your plate, resulting in a super-sized carbon footprint.  Type in your zip code on Local Harvest's web site for locations of locally grown and organic foods.  Choose organic products when available such as cotton. Cotton is the most pesticide-dependent crop in the world, accounting for 25% of all pesticide use.
 
Make my TCU event GREEN. Advertise your event as a GREEN event.  Encourage your attendees to bring their own foodware items such as utensils, cups/mugs, and cloth napkins, to minimize disposables.  Eliminate bottled water when possible. Encourage people to carpool or ride a bike to your event. Offer shuttles or a ride-sharing service to help reduce people driving to the event. Make a list of local bus routes and public transportation systems for your attendees.

Consume less, live better. Use things until they wear out, buy second-hand, repurpose old things into something new.  Use cloth bags when shopping.  China and the city of San Francisco have banned free plastic shopping bags. Of the 380 billion disposable plastic bags used each year in the United States, only 1 percent are recycled.  Conserve water by taking shorter showers and replace showerheads and nozzles with low-flow flow models.  Print a TCU wallet card as a reminder to lower your consumption of goods.

Go actively “Green”.  Join the TCU Environmental Club, Society of Sustainability, or other local/national environmental or sustainability organizations.  Volunteer to help with the TCU Purple Bike Program.  Participate within a froggle (What's a ”froggle?” - see www.themesemester.tcu.edu).

I agree to this pledge.

Thank you for making TCU and our world a greener place to live!

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