I know I haven’t said anything about the environment in a while… no, I haven’t stopped caring, so here I am again! I was reading some Nature Conservancy stuff online, and this article caught my eye. Read it!
I’m one of those people that get really cold easily. Well, let’s just say that I’m the queen of layering: I own many a spandexy top, too many fleece hoddies, fleece pants, long johns. And just to further prove my point, let me describe my oh-so-wondrful bed. Since September, I had a fleece blanket lining my bed with two blankets. One was a thermal and then the one on top was a quilted blanket to trap the heat. In October I added another smaller fleece blanket to wrap myself up in when I curled up in bed. I will soon be adding a comforter. I get cold super duper easily!
Ok, so what do I do as a college student during the winter to save energy and not catch a cold?
- I layer up (Outdoors). I pretty much live on campus because of my schedule – I have three labs per week and have (too) many classes to go to. It’s a tough life. The thing is, when I go from class to class, building to building, it’s pretty much from below freezing (not now, it’s been an pleasantly odd week) to boiling hot. Want to see my life preservers?
Beautiful, eh? The point of layering is: layering creates space between your layers, which equals trapped air, which equals insulation. I think that’s how dry suits for kayaking, diving, etc. works. Multiple layers mean more comfort when there is a change in temperature, especially when the day goes from super cold to chilly. Try fleece or other synthetic fibers in wet weather – they’re quicker to dry than animal/plant-based fibers and don’t absorb moisture, a. k. a. keeps you warmer. - I layer up (Indoors): warm socks, light sweater or fleece jacket (teehee) – but layering does really help. I know that many green people are obsessed with bamboo, hemp and all them naturals, but synthetic fibers are probably the easiest way to control your body temperature, whether indoors or outdoors. Plant-based fibers seem to take away your body heat (at least in my experience) and seem to be not as cozy. So what about animal fibers?, you ask. Well, I personally think they’re a little bit itchy and a little bit heavy. And, yes, I know that there are all those beautiful cashmere sweaters and what not out there, but not all of us can afford those light and cozy sweaters.
- Get a Travel Mug & Drink Warm Beverages: Instead turning up the heat the whole time, try a warm beverage, it really warms you up. (And in the case of Coffee and Hot chocolate, wakes you up, too!) Especially, if you’re in college, you know how going in and out of classrooms, running from one side of the campus to the other and how irregular the hours can be… it’ll keep you going. I have a super sweet Contigo thermos (just in a plummy-pretty color.) and it keeps my hot chocolate/coffee/tea warm for long hours.
- The Heat: Turn it off when you’re gone. End of story. Save your bill, too. Besides, keeping the heat on just makes your nose drier during the winter and this dry condition may cause epistaxis (the esoteric word for nosebleeds.) Besides, keeping the heat on incessantly will dry out your skin, hair, etc.
- Your Bed: Not rich enough to buy a down comforter? Neither am I! On top of my bedding, I keep a fleece blanket as my base layer so that when I jump into bed, it generates and holds on to heat faster than a cotton blanket would.
That’s it for now. Yeah, I’m not feeling too creative right now… So here’s something else. This was another great slide show for home owners – there were things that I had never heard of that could help with a lot of people. I realize that the economy is bad and there are ways that the GOVERNMENT can help (this is for US citizens only, obviously.)
Anyways, got to go finsh some homework and studying. Finals are coming up soon and I am about to… be not so pleasantly grilled. I’m so excited to go home! I can’t wait!
P.S. I love The Lord of the Rings… that’s all I have to say for now.
