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Upstairs, downstairs, no room escapes the wrath of higher ed. |
Secondary effects of printing out all that paper:
1. It's more wear on your printer.
2. Having to buy more toner. That comes in packaging. And leaves you with old cartridges.
Toner: packaging in, packaging out. |
3. Needing clips and staples to keep your papers together. Those things also come in packages.
Look at all that "stuff". |
4. The use of all those highlighters and pens. Yep, more packaging.
Look at me! Colleging like the youngsters! |
I downloaded articles on my computer.
I learned to highlight the crap out of them
I figured out how to insert really insightful comments.
I even tried to edit my papers on my desktop. The e-kind.
But then school became overwhelming, and I started printing things again. After 35 years of pen and paper education, I needed to eke out an ounce of control in what became an immense presence that dominated my life already consumed with raising my little girls.
I did try to mitigate the environmental footprint (guilt) in a few ways:
1. I printed on the back of junk mail, school flyers or paper found at thrift stores.
2. I printed double-sided.
3. I gave spent pages to my girls to use as crafts. "Crafts" for my three-year-old is cutting with scissors, by the way.

Sitting down with my laptop and a cup of coffee isn't the same and somehow email and calendar notifications and ahem, Facebook memes, find their way into my reading.
It's a process. I'll get better just as I have with bulk goods, cleaning supplies and all those grooming creams we are supposed to believe we need. Now that I'm armed with a semester of experience and know what to expect, I can hopefully reduce my paper use in the future and keep from turning my family room into a de facto printing house.
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