Here are some of the most well-known college kid characteristics and how you can change them to better our earth:

We are constantly glued to our laptops. And no matter whether you’re Facebooking or researching the native crops of Haiti, you’re still using lots of energy.  Now I’m not stupid – I wouldn’t dare suggest that you cut down your Skype time just to save the Earth.  Really all you have to do is cut down your energy usage when you’re not actually on the computer (i.e. sleeping or boozing).  How do you do this?  Unplug your electronics!  Computers practically use as much energy when they’re in standby mode as they do when they’re actually in use.  So if you’re leaving the room for a good amount of time, turn off your computer and unplug all of the plugs in your outlet if possible.

We are messy and we have our clothes to prove it. I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to eat or drink anything without staining whatever I’m wearing.  This is especially tragic when you happen to be wearing one of those “dry clean only” numbers, which of course, are always the cutest.  But don’t run off and spend last night’s tips on pricey dry cleaning before you try some other easier, cheaper, and more eco-friendly tactics.  Believe it or not, some “dry clean only” garments (such as silk and wool) can actually be hand washed with cold water.   Of course, give it a test run before you wash and potentially ruin your favorite silk dress.  If that doesn’t work, seek out “wet cleaning” or “green dry cleaning” locations by searching at GreenEarth Cleaning’s website.

We pull all nighters to finish those last minute term papers. But don’t make the environment suffer alongside you!  Use your paper wisely – double side it (you can change the feature on your printer) for drafts and even for your final paper.  Most professors don’t really care whether your paper is one or double sided.  You can save even more paper, ink, and moolah by simply reading over your paper carefully before you print it out.  I’m sorry, but printing out a paper 50 times just because you keep forgetting to use spell-check is just ridic.

We fund America’s red cup industry. I will bet that 9 out of every 10 parties you attend you can be found with a red cup in your hand.  However, using a different red cup with every drink can be pretty wasteful.  What’s more, you never really know where those cups have been before they reach your lips.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not really down to catch the Swine.  Solve all these problems before they start by bringing your own cup.  Think about it – you can decorate it your own way (helloooo, Pimp Cup!), you don’ t have to share it with any creepy randos, and you’ll look far less suspicious when your grandma decides to check out your drunken facebook pics.

Yeah, that jerk is usually me.

I’ve always been a cash girl – it’s efficient, it’s solid, and it’s hard to let go of. I just think credit cards make it too easy (“That’ll be $563.94” *swipe* “Thank you have a nice day!”) and that’s entirely my point. You can swipe away bucket-loads of money without realizing it. Credit cards make it so simple, it’s like you can get whatever you want and you’re not even spending real money.

However, when it comes down to forking over a twenty dollar bill to some Starbucks chick for a cup of coffee, I’m much more hesitant to get the overpriced (albeit ridiculously addictive) Venti Caramel Frap. With cash, it’s either you have it or you don’t. With credit, you always have it (or so you think).

I’ve seen many a times when my girlfriends get a little swipe happy and come home with shopping bags full of things they can’t really afford because “they can always pay it back later.” And I’m not too psyched about debit cards either – $32 overdraft fees because I went a dollar over my limit? Yeah okay.

I must admit that the only thing keeping me from shelling out hundreds at a time on online shopping is my serious lack of plastic. But I have reached a point in my life where it is almost impossible to go without a credit card and an embarrassment not to have a bank account. I’m all for hiding money in the mattress (uh… I mean not hiding it in my mattress- great, now the thieves will know where to look) but it simply isn’t practical anymore. I get it, I need to start building my credit. No bank = no credit = no interest = no security. So yes, I have resorted to getting myself some plastic.

But honestly, I’m worried about swiping myself to debt (ha!). Any advice? Anyone in the same boat?
Paper or plastic?

Look at how well you’re doing!

Then you open up Microsoft Word, and start tapping away at the keyboard. Jeez, you’ve already got a sentence! This is so much easier than you thought! You’ll be done in no time, and before you know it, you’ll be at the rugby house on Friday for the kegger. Wait, what time is the party again? A quick check on Facebook couldn’t hurt…

And then it’s over. You’ve been sucked into the very alluring tubes of the internet, procrastinating once again. It’s finals week, which means it’s work block season: that feeling where you just can’t concentrate. But according to CollegeNews.com, it turns out that those moments of procrastination are actually helpful. If you’re doing work for a long period of time, you’re bound to get stressed, and too much stress is never good for productivity. So it’s okay to take a break every now and then to ease your mind, and do something unrelated to your project. It will ease your stress and rejuvenate your brain activity so you can get back to work. Knowing that, why not try these sites to ease your studying woes?

1. Scrabble Beta on Facebook

If you can restrain yourself from endless photo-browsing, log onto Facebook to play a spot of Scrabble. Excellent idea if you want to boost your vocabulary for an English paper.

2. Fill In A Blank Map

I just played this Middle Eastern map-labeling game myself (twice!) while writing this article. Do YOU know where Azerbaijan is?

3. Failblog.org

So many mistakes, so little time.

4. Dolphin Olympics

Equally as cute as it is badass, Dolphin Olympics is totally the new Mario Kart.

5. CollegeCandy

Uhh…duh?

WTF? What ever happened to an A for effort? Or extra credit? Or taking a bit of pity on the kids you know bust their asses but still just miss the “A”?

I can’t tell you how many times I worked my booty off only to get screwed by a curve or my uncanny ability to freak out before exams…and then bomb them. I would seriously do anything for an “A” somtimes. Anything.

This week I asked the CollegeCandy writers to weigh in and tell me what they’d do for an “A.” Surprisingly, sexual favors weren’t that high on the list. Either we are getting less desperate (because we don’t need to be), or professors are getting really old and unattractive…

Erica – Kent State: Can’t say I’d go as far as sexual favors, but I wouldn’t be too proud to do a little flirting. Hey, why else do they let/force young, attractive TA’s teach classes?

Kathryn S.: Go to office hours for extra help. Ugh. This sounds lame, but you don’t even know how much I hate office hours.

Kari – FSU: I would recite the starting line up of the Miami Dolphins, in song form, for my sports fanatic prof in front of a 300 person lecture. And I have (he later confessed that he couldn’t give me any actual extra credit).

Olua: Depends just how badly I need it. Let’s just say, though, that academic integrity and I don’t have the strongest of histories.

John – UConn: I’d do anything for an A, and I by that I mean I’d play any Rock Band song for an A, even that one by Jimmy Eat World.

S.E. – Fordham: Depends on how I’m doing in class. If I’m close to failing, I’m sure I could work

out some “extra credit” with the prof.

Heather – Penn State: Spend hours researching the best (and easiest) classes and professors to take…I leave nothing up to chance.

Lauren – University of Michigan: I once gave up my weekends and evenings for a month to study with a private tutor. I got the A, but I’m still not sure it was worth it.

Elise – UCLA: Have a wild night with lots of diet coke and Sugar Free Red Bull

Carly – Grinnell: Umm… work hard? Call me boring, but I don’t want an A unless I’ve really earned it.

Suzanne – Tulane: Bribery: gifts, baked goods, babysitting the prof’s kids. If it works in politics, why not school?

Elizabeth – UA Huntsville: Well, I wouldn’t sleep with any of my professors–none of them are all that attractive and a lot of them are married. But if I could somehow get an A by throwing somebody else and their ridiculous opinion under the bus then yeah, I’d do that.

Noa – CU Boulder: I’d actually buy the books for the class.

Sarabeth – University of Texas: Can’t say I know my limits as to what I wouldn’t do, but I have built a rollercoaster for extra credit for a physics class before.

Alex – Cornell: CHEAT

Kelly – UMass: I’d just work hard

Let’s just hope this stationary isn’t scratch and sniff….