June 5 is World Environment Day, an event created by the World Health Organization to raise awareness and action for the environment. It serves as a “people’s day” to show the impact that we individuals can have on the environment—and how the collective power of everyone working together can make a difference.

You might be asking yourself: What kind of difference can one person make? A big one! Here are some ideas for things you can do to affect the environment in a positive way:

• Pick up litter you see on campus.
• Reduce, reuse, recycle.
• Walk to class (instead of taking your car), or take the campus bus.
• Limit showers to seven minutes or less. Not only will the environment thank you, but so will everyone else in your residence hall.
• Shop local. Does your city have a farmer’s market? Summer is the perfect time to buy fruits and vegetables from a local farmer.
• Organize a tree-planting drive (with approval from your school/city first).
• Share your pictures on social media.
• Start a recycling drive.

Planned an event? Register it here

More info on World Environment Day

Ready to feel empowered? Next month could kick-off an era of Millennial political dominance. People born between 1980 and 2000 make up the largest generation in American history, and now that most of us can vote, we could prove pivotal to this year’s midterm elections.

Midterms are often unfairly written off as inconsequential placeholders that dot the years between presidential contests. But there’s a bunch at stake this year.

Get this

We Millennials number 80 million in the US—and only slightly more Americans (82.5 million) voted in the 2010 midterms.

Shaking up Congress

As you read this, 468 members of the US Congress are running for re-election, each hoping that young voters will boost them like they boosted now-President Obama in 2008.

Republicans think they can take control of the Senate by capitalizing on Obama’s low popularity. Democrats are hopeful that an improving economy—and a Supreme Court decision that threatens employee access to some forms of birth control—will convince voters to put them back in charge of the House of Representatives.

College costs & environment

Thirty-eight states and territories will elect governors—who play a pivotal role in environmental protections and college affordability.

Minimum wage & marijuana

In a handful of states, including Massachusetts, voters will choose whether to raise the minimum wage. Citizens in Florida and three other states will vote on proposals to loosen restrictions on marijuana, Ballotpedia reports.

Students pushing for change

In New York City, students have joined parents and teachers to protest the Common Core education standards. In North Carolina, students established the #DebtFreeUNC campaign for fairer student loan terms. They delivered more than 18,000 red squares—each representing a University of North Carolina graduate with loan debt—to the governor and to a leading candidate for the US Senate, The Nation reported.

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“Look at what happens to you on a bicycle. You pedal. You make decisions. You experience the tang of the air and the surge of power as you bite into the road. You’re alive!”
—The late Richard Ballantine, from New York, founder of the assertive cycling movement

Cycling is quick, cheap, environmentally blameless, and great for the legs and heart. Local and state governments are encouraging us to ride our bikes to school or work. As this timeless student activity re-emerges in the modern world, the key is not aerodynamic bikes and snazzy gear, but the skills to safely navigate campus and public roads.

That’s a daunting prospect in our car-centric cities. Typically, cyclists are expected to hug the gutter, and cycling accidents are cited as evidence that cars and bikes cannot co-exist. Increasingly, though, cyclists are re-occupying the roads.

How? By claiming our space in the lanes and following traffic rules just as we would when driving cars. This is the central principle of assertive cycling, also known as effective or mindful cycling. And it turns out the middle of the lane is the most visible—and the safest—place for cyclists to be.

This approach is key to biking in traffic, experts say. “I loved cycling, but about eight years ago I was finding road traffic so miserable I was thinking of giving it up,” says Keri Caffrey, who has since co-founded CyclingSavvy, a cyclist training program based in Orlando, Florida.

Then she discovered assertive cycling. “One day I moved out into the lane and it felt really weird.  It took about a month for anyone to honk at me, but only a week for me to say I would never again ride in the gutter. If you love riding a bike, this is life changing. All your problems go away.” Her CyclingSavvy training program is now available in 17 states.

Assertive cycling: what it isn’t

Ignoring road rules
Many American cyclists don’t  respect the rules of the road. “Police officers don’t hold cyclists accountable,” says Kirby Beck. Dashing across red lights might seem an exciting route to the lecture hall, but it’s also a route to the emergency room.

Cycling in gutters and on sidewalks
“The worst possible place a bike can operate is on the edge of the traffic system, because it makes them invisible and irrelevant,” says Keri Caffrey. “The four leading crash types account for probably 95 percent of all bike crashes. All four are exacerbated or caused by riding on the edge of the road.” On sidewalks, pedestrians move unpredictably, and cyclists are unsafe at driveways and intersections.

Right hooks
The motorist passes the bike then turns right across the cyclist’s path.


Left cross
The motorist turns left across the path of the oncoming cyclist.


Drive out
The motorist pulls out of a driveway and into the path of the cyclist, who is likely screened by trees and other obstacles.


Sideswipe
The motorist tries to pass without giving the bike enough space.


Cyclists’ risk of having an accident declines as they gain experience. The risk to cyclists also declines as more people take to their bikes and drivers become better at sharing the road.

Use caution when cycling in bike lanes
Bike lanes make us feel safer, but their effectiveness is controversial. “Don’t trust your safety to paint—there’s no guarantee that the planner or engineer had any clue what he was doing,” says Kirby Beck. Typically, bike lanes are too narrow to allow vehicles (especially buses and large trucks) to pass safely. Bike lanes are associated with accidents at intersections, because cyclists are awkwardly positioned and difficult to spot. Stay vigilant.

Assertive cycling: what it is

Biking safely and confidently involves a skill set that enables you to position yourself in ways that motorists expect and respect, while keeping your distance from their mistakes. In addition, it gives you the confidence to overcome drivers’ occasional disapproval.

Follow the rules of the road
“The best way to be traffic-safe on a bike is to obey the rules of the road for drivers of vehicles,” says John Forester, a cycling transportation engineer in Lemon Grove, California, who pioneered this approach. “In-traffic skills are easily learned. The difficulty is the psychological strain of escaping from society’s taboo against cycling in traffic.”

Overcome your fear of the road
We’re scared of getting into the lane because bikes in traffic are exposed and slow, says Keri Caffrey: “But when you take away all the crashes caused by being invisible and irrelevant, there are tremendous advantages to being exposed and slow.” Road cyclists are visible. Drivers see them ahead and change lanes, avoiding the dilemma about whether there’s room to pass. Road cyclists have no blind spots. And at their slower speeds, cyclists can process more information than drivers can, allowing for greater control of their environment.