By Christina LoBello
Of all places, our college campus is probably not the most aware of environmentally friendly practices.
In an informal survey, I found one student who knew of and cared about the term “going green.” I was amazed at just how many of them were oblivious or did not care. With all the commercials, and billboards advertising going green, the “save the planet” signs on reusable grocery bags, and trendy hybrid cars, one would think that students would at least have an idea of what it is. Apparently, that is not the case.
By definition, going green is doing several eco-friendly activities in order to conserve energy, and reduce pollution all the while saving money in the process. These activities include but are not limited to recycling, using a reusable water bottle, and on a global level, stopping the production of cutting down tropical rainforests.
This issue may seem like it won’t affect students, when sooner than the long run, it will. Students’ future is rapidly approaching and the decisions made today to make a greener campus will certainly yield results. Often college students must be personally handed a cause or assignment to care about something. It especially makes sense if the issue affects them personally.
According to goingreenmatters.com, out of 25 greenest colleges in the country, only Yale University in New Haven, Conn. is ranked in the state. It’s understandable that going green will become expensive, and CCSU may be suffering under tighter budgets, but certainly there are small, less costly steps we can take.
CCSU can help the environment without skyrocketing student fees. We can do simple things such as unplugging unused computers, use a backpack instead of a plastic bag when buying something small, reuse paper, walk or use public transportation when you can, take shorter showers and always recycle. That’s why there are those clusters of brown green and blue bins everywhere.
As far as education on the matter goes, students don’t have to look very far to educate themselves. It takes no extra energy to read up on the topic or even take an environmental science course. It’s an interesting subject, but more importantly, it’s the future of our planet.
“More recycling bins would be better. There are a lot of trash cans with one recycling bin. They should be spread out more around campus.”- Jonathan Pare, CCSU '11
