Letter to the Editor
Think green on campus
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Opinion
When was the last time one of us students looked at one of the blue boxes that were stationed outside of every one of our classes? These boxes represent more than just a feature of our trash disposal. This is a concerted effort to help reign in the waste that can easily be produced by academia. However, what steps can we as a whole university take for a greener more carbon-limited campus?
With President Brian Casey signing the Presidents Climate Commitment, we have acknowledged that we want to help limit the damage that we are doing to our environment. This is why we want to encourage all of you - students, faculty and staff - to look for other ways that we can "green up" our academic life. We encourage you to turn off lights when you leave a classroom, post notes online, ask professors to set word limits instead of page limits, reduce the margins in your papers, print double-sided - basically, be creative.
One way that we are hoping that the DePauw community can help us is by starting discussions as to whether or not a green recognition for classes would be beneficial to helping students who wish to have greener academic course practices. Our goal is not to interfere with the classroom pedagogy; we only want to encourage everyone to think of ways to operate within a greener context. Hopefully, by partaking in these environmental activities, students upon graduating will take these practices with them to the outside world and professors and staff will take them home with them, creating a more sustainable life. As a DePauw community we can make the world GREEN, black and gold. So next time you see one of the blue boxes ask yourself: what more can I do?
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail us at depauw.green@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook via our group page.
Jon Ferguson, senior
Kate Moran, senior
Dan Hazelrigg, senior
Kathleen Belden, senior
Jessica Ash, senior
With President Brian Casey signing the Presidents Climate Commitment, we have acknowledged that we want to help limit the damage that we are doing to our environment. This is why we want to encourage all of you - students, faculty and staff - to look for other ways that we can "green up" our academic life. We encourage you to turn off lights when you leave a classroom, post notes online, ask professors to set word limits instead of page limits, reduce the margins in your papers, print double-sided - basically, be creative.
One way that we are hoping that the DePauw community can help us is by starting discussions as to whether or not a green recognition for classes would be beneficial to helping students who wish to have greener academic course practices. Our goal is not to interfere with the classroom pedagogy; we only want to encourage everyone to think of ways to operate within a greener context. Hopefully, by partaking in these environmental activities, students upon graduating will take these practices with them to the outside world and professors and staff will take them home with them, creating a more sustainable life. As a DePauw community we can make the world GREEN, black and gold. So next time you see one of the blue boxes ask yourself: what more can I do?
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail us at depauw.green@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook via our group page.
Jon Ferguson, senior
Kate Moran, senior
Dan Hazelrigg, senior
Kathleen Belden, senior
Jessica Ash, senior
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