Environmental Wellness: Learning & Contributing

What is Environmental Wellness?

Learning and contributing to the health of the planet and a sustainable lifestyle.
Spending time in nature to improve overall wellbeing.
The ability to make a positive impact on our environment—in our homes, our communities, and our planet.
Mindfully working to ensure fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income in environmental decisions and actions.

Questions for consideration:

Am I aware of the human impact on the environment?
Do I consider the 7 R's with the products and materials I consume: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Repair, Reuse, Recycle, Replace?
Do I find time to spend outdoors in nature?
Do I work to ensure the stability and longevity of our natural resources?
What communities may be most impacted by human-caused environmental impacts?
How do the products I consume and use every day impact the environment and are there better alternatives?

An environmentally well individual recognizes that they are dependent on their natural environment just as the environment is dependent on them.

Tips to help Mavericks with Environmental Wellness

Live a sustainable life

Every one of us can make a positive difference in our lives by taking steps to start to live a more sustainable life. These positive impacts will support the health and wellness of both ourselves and our communities.

Some areas of our lives we may consider making changes include:

Water Conservation and Reducing Water Pollution

Steps like taking shorter showers or collecting rainwater for use in our homes and landscapes lead to significant water savings over time.
Being mindful of whether the harmful chemicals we use in and around our homes are being washed down our home drains or outdoor storm drains helps us to better protect our precious water resources.

Energy Conservation

Unplugging items when not in use is easy when you use power strips throughout your home
Try switching to LED lightbulbs

Transportation

Commuting to UNO accounts for over 20% of our campus’ greenhouse gas emissions! By switching even one weekly commute trip to a sustainable transportation option reduces this environmental impact
All students, staff, and faculty have access to ride Omaha’s bus system for free using their MavCARD as a bus pass. Learn how to ride Metro Transit

Waste Reduction

When it comes to consumption, remember the 7 R’s to significantly reduce how much waste you personally produce

Rethink: Do I need this item in the first place? What other alternatives may exist? How can I change my lifestyle to no longer need this?
Refuse: Turn down the plastic straw or bag offered to you with your purchase
Reduce: Use and consume less. Determine what your necessities in life are
Repair: Fixing instead or replacing items that are broken
Reuse: is there another use for the item before you throw it away?
Recycle: Remember what items go into the recycling bin and recycle properly. In Omaha, these items can be placed in the recycling bin: paper, cardboard, clean cartons, clean aluminum, and steel cans, clean plastic bottles and containers. Look for the numbers in the recycling symbol stamped in the plastic and only put 1,2,3, and 5 numbered plastics. Rule of thumb is always, “When in doubt, throw it out!” to avoid contamination
Replace: When you can no longer use an item and it is a necessity, find the most environmentally friendly replacement

Food

Consider changing your diet to consume foods that demand fewer natural resources while also being mindful and aware of cultural differences and the humanitarian impact of foods. Generally, plant-based foods have a lower environmental impact.

Spend Time with Nature

Just as we impact the environment, the environment has a direct effect on us as individuals. Nature benefits each individual in ways that nothing else can.

Spending time in nature has been shown to impact us mentally in the following ways:

Helps ease anxiety and depression. Going outside has been shown to help ease the effects of anxiety and depression. Ecotherapy is a type of formal treatment which involves doing activities outside in nature.
Reduces stress and anger. Nature has also been shown to reduce the effects of stress and calm one’s mood.
Improvement in memory and focus. Many studies have shown that going out in nature can improve cognitive function.
Allows us to “tune back in” to ourselves. Because there are fewer stimuli in nature, it is easier to turn our focus internally.
Reduce feelings of isolation. Spending time in a green space—whether it be a park, a forest, or even just in your own backyard—helps to reduce feelings of disconnectedness.

There are even documented physical benefits as well, including:

Lowers blood pressure and reduces cortisol (stress hormone) production. Going outside, especially if you are doing exercise, helps lower the physical effects of stress.
Enhanced immune system. Some studies have found that “aerosols from the forests, inhaled during a walk, are behind elevated levels of Natural Killer or NK cells in the immune system, which fight tumors and infections."
Longer life span. Because you have a lowered risk of disease, and less stress, your general health tends to be better overall.
Increased exercise. “If you make getting outside a goal, that should mean less time in front of the television and computer and more time walking, biking, gardening, cleaning up the yard, and doing other things that put the body in motion.

Check out this TedTalk to learn more about the power of nature

How can we bring nature indoors to get us through those days we are not able to get outside?

Start an Indoor Herb Garden
Place Potted Plants throughout Your House
Let Fresh Air In
Breathe in the Smells of Nature with Aromatherapy
Get a Sun Lamp

For more resources on where you can go to spend time in nature locally, check out the local resources below.

Make a Positive Impact in Our Communities

Community wellness is deeply tied to environmental wellness. Community Wellness is “the combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural, and political conditions identified by individuals and their communities as essential for them to flourish and fulfill their potential.”

The relationship between the environment and humanity is mutual, with both sides benefitting from the other.

We can make positive environmental impacts in our community by engaging in environmental activism, supporting environmental justice, supporting urban design that includes elements of nature, and being environmental stewards in our community.
Consider joining or supporting a community garden, participating in a tree planting event, or volunteering with a local organization or nonprofit.