Belated Reflections on 101 Week
Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo
New students arrived on this campus well before the start of classes to participate in 101 Week, and this was the best possible opportunity to inform them of everything that happens on this campus. As both a guide and employee of this office, I felt it necessary to make sure that the new students were aware of our bottle-free state, and that they know how to recycle on campus.
The logistics of planning 101 Week and all its events are extremely complex, as there are so many elements to consider, and often, adding on a ‘green’ element will take a back seat. The main reason is that there are a lot of students generating a lot of waste, and managing this aspect is a tremendous effort. Since the University is now officially bottled water free, water bottles have been replaced by providing large water jugs that the students can use to fill up their own reusable bottles. This cuts down on a lot of plastic being left as waste, but this isn’t the only problem. Juice in tetra packs, pop in cans, non-recyclable plastic cutlery and countless non-compostable napkins get used and thrown out, or even just left behind as litter. For the most part, it’s not even a lack of recycling that is the main concern; it’s the litter.
The week is so busy, what with everyone hustling and bustling from event to event, few people managing many hormone-driven youth (it’s the truth, and there’s no denying it), but we can’t just put a time out on caring for the space we live in. This isn’t only concerning the health of our environment, but the beauty of our campus, overall. It’s a matter of making people see what’s in front of us, and giving them a reason to care.
-vedrana
Post a Comment