A travel nurse or travel therapist can easily implement green practices into her temporary living situation, regardless of location. Developing a few sustainable habits can have a grand impact on the environment – without forcing a nurse or therapist to deprive herself.
Recycling items such as paper, aluminum, cardboard, plastic and glass can reduce a nurse or therapist’s carbon footprint. Americans empty an average of 2.5 million plastic bottles every 60 minutes, according to Healthcare Traveler. Creating new plastics, instead of recycling, wastes energy and natural resources such as oil.
A travel nurse or travel therapist may also make the switch to another recycling option – reusable bags. Every year, Americans use approximately 1 billion shopping bags which results in the creation of approximately 300,000 tons of landfill waste.
In countries that have implemented incentives for consumers to cut plastic bags from their shopping trips, waste decreased substantially. After Ireland created a 15-cent charge per plastic bag in 2002, bag consumption dropped by 90 percent. By 2008, the average person in Ireland used 27 plastic bags a year. In contrast, the average person in Britain used 220, according to CleanAir.org. The program has raised millions of euros in revenue and saved the country countless waste.
Another potential area that a travel nurse or travel therapist may choose to try to cut her negative impact on the environment is unplugging electronics. Even when items such as printers, cellphone chargers and laptops are off, if they are plugged in, they are eating up energy. This power phenomenon is known as vampire power and is estimated to waste nearly $100 million in electric bills each year, according to Healthcare Traveler. A nurse or therapist looking to reduce her impact on the environment can learn to reduce her energy waste.
If unplugging all of those electrical items seems too easy to forgo due to how long it takes, a nurse or therapist may wish to invest in a power strip. Plugging multiple items into the strip will allow them to simply flip a switch, and power will be shut off by a tracker in the device.
Green practices such as these can be easily adapted in any travel nursing or travel therapy housing situation. With a few adjustments to personal habits, her carbon footprint will steadily decrease as she becomes savvier in finding new ways to becomes environmentally conscious.