Sunday, December 9, 2007

Fresno State Pledges Campus Sustainability

In a recent article from the campus Collegian newspaper, writer Shirley Lau talks about how the university plans on taking a more environmental friendly approach to the everyday hustle and bustle of campus life. During the grand opening ceremony of the solar parking lot, Lot V, on November 9, 2007, university president John Welty signed the Talloires Declaration. This is a 10-point plan calling for the incorporation of programs such as research and teachings of environmental issues into the higher education system. The thought is, that since most of the people who manage society's institutions are part of or attending the university, this is the prime place for the environment awareness to be introduced and reinforced. As part of making the students and faculty on campus more aware of environmental sustainability, the new Henry Madden Library is one of the focal points of this project. The university sought out furnishings and carpet among other things to help make the library more environmentally sound. Another way that the university is trying to spread awareness of sustainability, is by providing more recycling deposits around campus alongside regular trash deposits. Right now there are only about 50 recycling deposits, but considering how many trash deposits there are around campus that number highly exceeds the number of recycling deposits. Just think, if there was one recycling container for every trash container, students and faculty would be more inclined to throw there trash and recycling in the appropriate deposits instead of just what was convenient at the time. Overall, I think it's a wonderful step towards sustainability awareness. If everyone on campus joined the movement and did their part, we would save more of the environment over time than we realize.

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