“The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.”
— Cicero

It’s not like you haven’t heard of global warming. You get bombarded with tips and rules on how to please Al Gore. The most common suggestions include “buy a hybrid car”, “buy efficient bulbs” and “don’t fly”.

As a student, none of those apply to me in any way. I can’t afford a car, I have one lightbulb in my student room and college isn’t really the kind of occupation that sends you flying across the globe twice a week.

So what could I do in my student life to tackle this? I didn’t just want to be “green” for the sake of it. Going green also means reducing cost, living more efficiently (which is probably a weird fetish of mine, but that’s what Economics teaches you) and sustainably while using up as little of our planet as we can. Here’s what every student can do to do their part:

1. Eat less meat or go vegetarian. Livestock is one of the world’s largest producers of greenhouse gases (yes, cow farts). Get a Student’s Veg Cookbook or learn how to become a vegetarian.

2. Do more efficient laundry. Simplify your closet, don’t use a dryer, wash at appropriate temperatures, use greener detergent and don’t iron things you don’t have to iron. See a slew of green laundry tips. I think for us students we don’t need to be told twice not to do our laundry. But simplifying your clothing might be something to think about (tips for guys, gals).

3. Buy groceries with less packaging. Generating waste takes a major toll on our planet. By choosing fresh produce that doesn’t come in excessive packaging, or by buying larger amounts at a time, which also saves you money, you can reduce your plastic bag footprint. You don’t have to buy organic just to be green, but make a conscious effort to reduce packaging waste.

4. Eat out less. This can really hard for students to implement. But it makes a big difference. Think about how many garbage bags of take-out containers you’ve disposed in the past. Think of all the plastic bags, which are made of fossil fuels. Eating at home more often and cooking yourself not only gives you back the choice of food, but also reduces its carbon footprint.

5. Buy a greener computer. Use one single computer, and let it be a green one. Also plan for longevity. I personally have a 4-year life cycle for my computers. Which is probably above average, but it feels just about right and has worked for me for the last 8 years.

6. Optimize your commute. If you drive a car, stop. Use public transport. Better, walk or bike short distances. Also, start sending letters to your town government asking why your town doesn’t have natural gas public transport or electric buses yet. You’ll save money on the gas and maintenance of the car, too!

7. Decompose organic waste. Find options in your town for collecting and decomposing organic kitchen waste. There are options for collecting vegetable peelings and other cooking waste for decomposition into organic fertilizer. If you have the opportunity, make compost.

8. Bring your own bag for shopping. Reduce the amount of plastic bags in your life by taking along a bag when you go do your grocery shopping. Plastic bags are the world’s top consumer product – and one of the environmentally most objectionable. Plastic bags may use less energy to produce per piece than jute bags, but if you re-use the bags instead of throwing them away, you win.

9. Recycle paper. As a student, you have piles of notes and paper that you will eventually throw away. Find options for recycling paper in your town and make good use of them. Recycled paper gets remade into cheaper books and notepads. Find it more on how to recycle paper. You can save money on this if your official garbage bags cost a lot of money, as is the case in many European countries.

10. Buy recycled notepads and textbooks. For your scrap notes, or notes in general, consider buying recycled notepads. You get them at different grades, so choose a type you’re comfortable with. Also, many textbooks come in recycled versions. They’re cheaper, and the content stays the same.

11. Put old and unwanted textbooks up for sale. Encourage re-use of textbooks among freshmen by selling them your old books. And redeem some of that spent money doing it. In the U.S. you can use BigWords.com, or you can sell them on Amazon anywhere else. I’d also strongly recommend checking your student union of university website, where you’ll find more relevant buyers.

12. Use a durable water bottle. Get a good, durable waterbottle that also looks really cool. The investment pays for itself: If you have drinkable water coming from your tap, just fill this thing up and you’re good to go. And, since it comes in so many colors, make a statement, too.

13. Be conscious about lights everywhere. Turn off lights when leaving any room, at home or on campus, and find out what your university is doing about this issue, as well. Campuses are often huge outfits with massive energy consumption, so ask your campus manager what’s being done to keep the footprint small.

14. Reduce and manage electronic devices. You have a phone, and a computer. Try to keep it at that. Don’t own a TV unless you think it’s really necessary. When having multiple devices connected, keep them safe with a power strip that you can turn off. Devices in stand-by mode are as good as having them turned on! So completely shut off things you don’t use.

“The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men’s apples and head their cabbages.”
— Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, États et empires de la lune, 1656

“For its part, Microsoft has endorsed Google’s advice to ditch IE6. “We support this recommendation to move off Internet Explorer 6,” said Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc in an entry on the Windows Experience blog.”

Good for them.

On that note, I’d like to ask you for some help going down the road, as I wish to reach more students and readers out there and break that magical 1000 reader mark:

1. If you haven’t subscribed to our RSS feed, subscribe now in order to never miss a post again. If you’re new to RSS, check out this quick guide.

2. If you have a Facebook account, consider sharing TPS as a link on your Facebook wall: Your friends might like what I write.

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4. Comment on a post. Explore the Archives for more content.

5. Send me your feedback via e-mail, blog comment or Twitter. I’d love to hear from you regarding what I should write about, what I could improve.

So thank you for the ongoing support, especially to those of you who’ve stuck around since the beginning. And stay productive!

Michael Hyatt:

“Use a set of note-taking symbols. I use the same set of symbols I use when taking notes:

• If an item is particularly important or insightful, I put a star next to it.
• If an item requires further research or resolution, I put a question mark next to it.
• If an item requires an action on my part or follow-up, I put a ballot box (open square) next to it. When the item is completed, I check it off.”

I think many of these principles can be transferred to reading material in college.

Thanks to a TPS reader for this IKEA suggestion.

“We decided to let “Mother Earth” do all the work and let “her” scare people that are wasting energy.”

The campaign site has two other videos. I like the concept, especially because I know that in many parts of Asia, and by my own experiences in the Middle East, there is almost no awareness for energy efficient living. I wish the videos viral success.

I’m moving.

And I’d like to use this opportunity to challenge myself. Since moving is never an easy feat, involving planning, costs, transportation, and help from friends, I’m out to make this process as painless as possible. There has to be a way to be flexible enough to move within hours. How many things do I need to even possess?

These are questions I’d like to answer when moving at the end of February. So the first steps I’m taking are the following:

1. Pack up stuff I don’t need on a daily basis and take it to my parents’ place (I have a room there). I will gradually toss or bring back things I need. Another approach would be to only have things in my new apartment that I need for college. I’m mostly bugged by the amount of books, files, folders, and clothes I have stashed around this place.

2. Selling furniture I don’t need. I had a L-shaped desk, really huge. I’ve come to realize that with efficient organisation, even the smallest of desks can suffice for good studying. After all, small desks seem to work at the library.

3. Research simpler furniture. Does anyone know of a clothes closet that is? Even the IKEA PAX closets are cumbersome to assemble, let alone move.

I will keep you posted on the progress with this project. Stay tuned.

“If I had to pick one predominant emotion in reaction, it would be disturbed.”

Imagine if the App Store were to become the predominant way to get applications for any computing purpose.

If Apple became the world’s largest software retailer.

There has been some great write-up (Gruber, De With, Pogue, Hewitt)  after Apple’s introduction of the iPad that really captures the larger picture behind this new product in terms of a business model. I myself find it fascinating in terms of a business move, which is why I’d like to share my thoughts here from that perspective.

Platform, not Product

The iPad, to me, is more of a platform than an out-of-the-box usable product. While the many applications demoed in San Francisco this week already make the iPad functional in many ways, Apple’s focus here wasn’t so much on what it does, but what i can do. Apple focused on packing in a lot of technological advancement which struck me more than the software features: For example, while the omission of ports and replaceable batteries are currently enraging the internet, one seems to forget that Apple has built in Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, IPS screen technology, the best capacitive display out there, and a 30-pin iPod dock connector. This last point isn’t an obvious choice, Apple could have chosen Micro USB or, though unlikely, a propietary format. But they decided to position this as an iPod from a connectivity perspective – which means that peripheral manufacturers can adapt solutions to the iPad with minimal adjustments.

The fact that Apple is betting on the App Store is evident through the immediate announcement of the SDK. In fact, I am suspecting that this SDK is the original iPhone SDK they didn’t launch back in 2007. The workaround that iPhone apps scale up to fit iPad was probably not Apple’s initial solution, but came as part of a release roadmap when Apple realized that the iPad wouldn’t be released before 2010. Just my theory.

The iPad is a platform. For content producers, developers and consumers alike. It’s implications are far more than “a big iPod touch”. It’s interaction model is unique, and this is just the first product of this caliber. We’ve just started the new decade.

A Flurry of Revenue Streams

The iPod dock connector is a revenue stream for Apple. They license the use of the plug via the elaborate “Made for iPod / iPhone” program. If you extend this to the iPad, I ask whether we will soon see a “Made for Mac” label (an eerie thought, I know).

Beyond the connector, if we observe the price of this product, it isn’t a cash cow in itself. In fact, I suspect Apple’s margins are comparatively low on this product, considering that it is sold cheaper than an unlocked iPhone in Europe. If Apple were to sell an optimistic 10 Million units by Q1 2011 at an average price of $600, that creates a revenue of  $6bn. That’s a lot of money, and is definitely part of the reason why Steve Jobs mentioned that Apple is a $50bn company, for compariosns sake one year from now.

But how does Apple become a $50bn company if blockbuster sales of a product like this account for just 10% of their revenue? Even if you count Macs, iPods and iPhones, we’re left looking. Enter iTunes, App Store and iBookstore. Much of the reason why I’m intrigued by this product is that Apple has figured out how to deliver compelling content options to this device.

If any other tech company had released this product, with similar technology, it would not have been successful, because of the content channels available. How do you think the JooJoo will fare againts a product with Apple’s engineering resources and content delivery channels? Apple is the comfortable position that it can, thanks to the iTunes Music Store’s success, negotiate strongly with content publishers. The JooJoo can’t do that (though it might have been able to make some deals under Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch wing).

The iPad is just another way for Apple to sell iTunes media, books and applications. At an average price of 3$ dollars per app, downloads a year, sales, in the billions, and virtually no costs for offering additional apps, Apple’s proposition is that their revenue, nay, profit from iTunes is practically capless. The iPad will accelerate this.

On a side note, I believe that if Apple could pull off movie deals in 2nd-Tier countries (most European countries, South America) and Asia (China, India and Japan), they would multiply their revenue manifold. Remember that the iPod video was a useless product in Europe as there was no video content on iTunes, and still isn’t in most European countries as of 2010.

The demise of the Mac

The most hurtful statement to me at the Apple event was Steve Jobs’ proclamation of Apple as a mobile device company. While Macs are included in that category with Macbooks, I’m not sure that’s where Apple is really headed. Since the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has only marginally improved on the Mac. They’ve refined Mac OS X, they’ve polished the iMac and tightened up their laptop line. In other words: I think Apple’s is done with the Mac. In a bold move, imagine if Apple is planning on moving all their computing to a touch-based, file-system free, app-store driven model. The implications of that could fill theses papers and send chills down the spines of tech enthusiasts. Richard Stallman beware.