Being in college and trying to live sustainably can be hard at times. Especially for students that want to find trendy affordable clothes. Many students are unaware of the true cost of buying from fast-fashion brands. While the price tag at checkout might seem appealing, the hidden costs to people and the planet are far more.

When you think of fast fashion, the meaning is in the name. It is the mass production of low-quality, low-cost apparel that is inspired by demands from current trends. Brands like H&M and Zara are popular examples. They release upwards of hundreds of styles and pieces every week. A new term that has emerged in recent years is “ultra-fast fashion”. A more extreme version of fast fashion that produces styles almost daily. Household brands that are also ultra-fast fashion brands include Shein, Temu, and Fashion Nova.

However, the true price to pay for fast fashion is nowhere near the price you pay at checkout. We also pay for the environmental impacts, consumer behaviors, and unfair labor conditions. An article on 2025 Fast Fashion Statistics, stated that fast fashion is responsible for 10% of the global carbon footprint, consumes 141 billion cubic meters of water annually, and contributes to 35% of microplastics. Consumer habits make matters worse. Today, people wear garments an average of only 7 to 10 times before discarding them, a 35% decrease compared to 15 years ago. In the United States, the average person throws away 82 pounds of textile waste per year, most of which ends up in landfills.

One solution for fast fashion is right here on campus! Run by the Office of Campus Sustainability, the BGSU Campus ReStore is a thrift store on campus that is supplied with clothes, dorm décor, home and office supplies, and much more. Its goal is to reduce landfill waste and offer a variety of gently used clothes to BGSU students, faculty, and staff at low or no cost. It is currently located in McDonald Hall Annex through the sliding doors across from the Life Sciences Building. Outside of our main entrance is a donation bin. It is available for anyone to drop off items between 7:30am and 5pm. Drop offs can include clothes, dorm and office supplies, and still-usable items. You can also immerse yourself in local thrift stores in Bowling Green and surrounding areas such as The Fringe Thrift Store, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Plato’s Closet and much more. With a little bit of creativity and imagination, upcycling would be great way to transform your thrifted clothes into something that is unique and personal to you. Upcycling is when you reuse an item or material to create a better product. It reduces waste it gives old or unused materials a second life.  

On a broader scale, it brings into question how fast fashion can truly be solved. It requires both an individual and systematic change. Sustainability efforts are primarily growing within younger generations. Fast fashion is also primarily being influenced and consumed by younger generations. Social media, economic pressure, and the desire to stay trendy are large contributing factors. To make a lasting impact, we must challenge these norms by supporting ethical brands, choosing quality over quantity, and demanding transparency from fashion companies.

Sustainability in college doesn’t have to mean sacrificing style or affordability. It’s about making conscious choices like buying secondhand, donating what you no longer need, and becoming creative with what you already own. As consumers, our decisions have power. By slowing down our consumption and supporting sustainable alternatives like the Campus ReStore, we can collectively reduce waste and our carbon footprint, protect the environment, and redefine what it means to be fashionable.

With the new Meta data center being built just north of our university in rural Wood County, the rise in artificial intelligence has now wormed its way into our own community. With more and more people using AI-powered search suggestions, chatbot responses, or creating fake images and videos, we need to consider the energy and resource use that goes into each generated item. New infrastructure has been created solely to meet consumers' needs for quick responses. This includes new data centers that consume massive amounts of energy, water, and other natural resources. And as the use of AI continues to grow more powerful, so does its impact on our planet and even our local community.

              Circling back to Meta's new data center campus in Bowling Green, the project was announced in April of 2025 and is still under construction. Their selected site is 280 acres, and the center will be approximately 715,000 square feet upon completion. This massive project is set to cost over $800 million. At the same time, the project's implementation is set to create over a thousand jobs. However, most are construction jobs with temporary contracts, and the other 100+ positions are likely to be remote, save a few in-house staff. Meaning there will only be a handful of jobs at the center reserved for our local community.

              Not only that, but energy rates are forecast to increase similar to other communities where data centers are already online, as data centers are known to use a large amount of electricity to operate. This will easily negatively affect the local community by raising their energy costs. A Google search about energy rates yields a default response from Google AI, which affirms that it is the main driver behind this increase. The Associated Press also states that that Americans paid 9.3 billion dollars more in electricity between September 2024 and September 2025, attributing 70% of that increase to data centers. To operate and train modern AI models, large amounts of electricity are required. For example, some language models may require thousands of high-powered Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) running for weeks or even months. This significantly increases energy demand. For reference, a single training run of a new AI model can consume as much electricity that 100 U.S. homes use within an entire year! Now Meta claims that they will match the Bowling Green data center’s electricity use with 100% clean and renewable energy, so hopefully that comes to pass with a new large scale solar installation in our area. It would be useful, as according to a new study done by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), data centers are set to account for up to 9% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030.

AI doesn't just consume energy; it also consumes water. These AI centers have massive cooling systems to handle the heat generated by thousands of servers running 24/7. This, unfortunately, means heavy water usage. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute even says that "large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day," which is enough for a town of 10,000-50,000 people. The water used in this process is freshwater, a resource that becomes scarcer by the day. Here in Wood County, there are multiple sources of water from which residents in different municipalities get their water. For those living in Perrysburg and Oregon, their water originates from Lake Erie; Fostoria (partially in Wood County) treats water from the East Branch of the Portage River; Waterville utilizes groundwater from the Jordan aquifers, and Bowling Green and other areas around the county use the Maumee River for municipal water. We all rely on our natural water table to supply water for agriculture, wetland ecosystems, and especially municipal use. Each of these is put under pressure by the competition for water use from these expensive data centers. In December 2025, the Northwestern Water and Sewer District erected a 2-million-gallon water tower to accommodate the expected increase in water withdrawal and stabilize water pressures that will be needed for Meta’s data center. It has been speculated that our water rich region will face increased pressure in the future as there is a rising demand for freshwater around the country as we continue to deplete aquifers and other resources.

Energy and water use are just the two main issues. There are also factors such as the many environmental harms arising from mining resources to produce these computers, their contribution to the global electronic waste problem when systems eventually fail or need upgrading, and the carbon footprints of the centers. So, anytime you’re considering intentionally using AI, please consider the environmental costs your request can have on our local community and the planet.