Dear Editor,
I believe, with how much technology has advanced in the past 100 years, we need to be looking with a fine tooth and comb of exactly how much of an impact we have had on a global scale. We must realize that all the amenities that we have grown so accustomed to come with a price. While there has been an effort towards the sustainability of cleaner technologies, there is only a certain few that can participate in implementing that kind of work. However, the community as a whole can have a great impact on what the world will be like in the generations to come.
Even the smallest effort to help become more environmentally friendly can go so far.
According to The National Recycling Coalition, recycling and reuse enterprises have created jobs for over 1.1 million people in the United States. Recycling helps to conserve the earth’s natural resources by preventing waste of manufactured materials as much as possible. When new products are manufactured from new materials, it takes a lot more energy to produce the “virgin material” than it would with recycled products. Recycling reduces the amount of fuel consumed, which in turn reduces the amount of carbon emissions created from the burnings of different fossil fuels. It can reduce the negative environmental impact by not only lowering green house emissions, but also reducing the amount of trash in landfills. In addition, a household budget can be reduced considerably by recycling items within the home and garden. By turning organic waste into compost, there is less need to spend money on mulch, fertilizer, and commercial compost.
I am part of Reconnect, an organization on campus that centers on what we, the regular everyday Joe, can do to better our community and implement ways of being more ecologically friendly. We start small with our community and grow with the severity of different issues aiming at bettering our world.
Most glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles and electronics can be recycled, whether it is into the same product or something entirely different. We are trying to implement an idea of recycling and to make the message clear that we should be pushing forward for a more efficient and ecologically friendly view, rather than going the opposite direction. We had a recycling program on campus for the better part of 2009. Ben Taylor was the supervisor of the program and was adamant about proving the potential our campus had. However, with the budget cuts, it was deemed not worth keeping because at the time it was perceived as being more of a money pit that would not financially benefit the university for three to five years.
National Recycling Day is November 15, and we will be collecting anything and everything that can be recycled. There will be more reminders as the 15th approaches. Nevertheless, it is less than a month away and you can definitely start saving up goods now. Some items that can be recycled: soup cans, tuna cans, aluminum cans, aluminum foil, plastic bottles, shampoo and conditioner bottles, milk jugs, water bottles, bleach bottles, yogurt tubs, newspapers, magazines, junk mail, paper bags, cereal boxes, shoe boxes, old phone books and old greetings cards. Washing them out too would be great. These are just a few things that can be recycled, rather than thrown away. For the big items that cannot be brought to school, depending on what and where it is, we might be able to pick it up.
It is safe to say that we have to be aware and keep the awareness alive to solve and fix the exponentially growing issue of the security of our planet. The issue being out there more and more, not letting it subside because of its sheer importance in the growing technological manufacturing of products, is a necessity for all earth’s species. Before it is too late, we need to take responsibility for our actions, and have a realization that our growing demand for technology affects all life.