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Reduce, reuse - redeem ourselves
Sustainability. We all desire to hold on to what we are accustomed to holding on to. Why then, would people who see multiple, obvious benefits in an inexpensive program not choose to embrace such an activity that would expand our sustainability on this planet? The program I am talking about, which aids in our sustainability as a species and the planet, is recycling. Those soda bottles, aluminum cans, newspapers, reams of used office paper and multitudes of other items (including ink cartridges—just go to Office Depot and pick up the envelope) can be recycled. Recycling is not simply a pastime for hippies or activists anymore. We as a society recognize and deem the embracement and expansion of recycling a worthwhile venture for ecological and responsibility reasons. While we may not all pluck glass and plastic bottles from the ground or sort our leftover school paper with much vigor, there are few who would ardently fight recycling. Why then is it not occurring on a much more expansive basis? Accessibility is the key. The solution to practice recycling on a more significant scale would be to provide an abundance of containers. If it is as easy providing the receptacles to get people to recycle, why aren’t there more of them at a very “educated” institution like Fresno State? Fresno State isn’t as intelligent and progressive as we would like to bill it as. We need only look at what occurred when the United Pride club came into existence and the crimes committed against their booth in Free Speech Area. If we do that in our “Free Speech Area,” our liberal outlet of alternate views, I shudder to think about what happens in the more conservative areas and offices in our university every day. It’s enough to make a hippie happily head back to Humboldt. But retreating does not initiate action nor achieve anything for the greater good. We need to face the fact that we need more receptacles for recycling at Fresno State, not just those huge cement things that are placed so close to concrete trash cans that people can barely tell the difference. We need to have individual bins for plastic, glass and aluminum. But I fear it’s quite a bit to ask from an administration that pleads poverty on most issues. Do we have money for areas of improvement like recycling at Fresno State? We have money for other things that aren’t so necessary. While a cell phone ringing when you are entrenched in studying can be irksome, is there really a need for library security? I once heard them called “library courtesy clerks,” isn’t that what a librarian is? I think if we have funds enough for these “clerks” to run around with secret service earpieces, we can find money for more recycle bins. What about those 300 “No Cell Phone” banners in the library? Does anyone else see the excessive waste and overkill with such an immense amount of banners and the detraction from the library’s spirit of independent education and thought? College prepares us for our transition into the working and professional world. It is vital our university heralds and embraces diversity in effort to offer the most open education possible. Without that we face nothing but stagnation and unchanging thought. While some may rejoice with the thought of that, many others do not—they count too. If anyone from the university would like to debate this with me, I can be reached through my editor, until then I will be the guy saving his bottles in his backpack because of all the trash in the recycling bins. — This columnist can be reached at collegian@csufresno.edu |
