Green Corner
The environment is our most precious resource, and while our passion is often ridiculed, we, the co-heads of Environmental Action Committee, find in our club the comfort of a community which hopes to strengthen and deepen our understanding of environmental issues which both directly and indirectly impact us.
Focusing on global environmental sustainability issues, the EAC is the oldest student environmental club on campus. We meet weekly to discuss our frustrations about the way the planet’s most beloved resources are being mistreated, and how we can work to push for change in our lives and on campus. There is ranting involved, but it is healthy ranting; our collective anger is a passion that is vital in inciting change.
While we hope to set higher expectations for the school, we also examine our personal choices which can have severe environmental impacts. We discuss practices that we ourselves can improve in to reduce our carbon footprints. This ranges from transportation and dietary choices to personal education in the goings-on in pertinent climate negotiations and current events. The club provides an ideal time for us to reflect on how we can better our practices, educate our peers and understand conversations in a more global realm that can be easy to lose touch with while on campus.
Recently, we have been researching steps the school can take to support solar energy. There are plans to put solar panels on the new Field House, but we are hoping to propose a broader implementation on campus rooftops and grounds. In addition, we have researched ways to offset our own carbon emissions by putting money into solar energy elsewhere, and/or investing in green energy sources. However, there will be roadblocks in making these changes a reality, and we are hoping for more student, faculty and administrative support in creating a campus that practices what we preach.
As we look more closely into what we waste as a campus, we also hope to plan a trash audit once the weather warms up in the spring. This will involve laying down a tarp and dumping a trash can of waste onto it. We will then separate the landfill-bound waste from waste that could have been diverted to either recycling or compost. We often send waste to the landfill that could be repurposed in a number of other ways, and this examination will help us understand how much of waste condemned to a landfill could be rerouted to an alternate, more sustainable destination.
If you enjoyed Curt Ellis’ assembly on Tuesday, join the EAC on Saturday night at 7 in the forum to watch his documentary, “King Corn”. The quirky and home grown film follows Ellis and his partner Ian Cheney back to their grandparents’ home town of Greene, Iowa, as they plant, grow, and harvest an acre of genetically modified corn. To learn about why corn now forms the main carbon structures of our hair, come watch the film! There will be pizza (probably chock-full of corn itself)!