Steffi wrote a great article about “green universities” and how we can learn from following their example, and I completely agree. The problem is though that going green is about more than college campuses it’s about changing the behaviors of the community and a lot of things are not as they appear. I personally know a girl from Colorado and when I asked why she didn’t go to University of Colorado her instinctual answer surprised me. “They smoke so much there, and I hate smoking.” While her choice was riddled with other reasons it struck me as odd that this was even one of them because I had never heard that. While Colorado the state is among the thick of all 50 in smoking rates around 17.6% but has decreased since the late 90’s where a whopping 23% of the state was lighting up. When talking about trash, and recycling and going green many people don’t even think of smoking as an option but its impact on the environment is huge.
Did you know that in 2004 a study was done and showed that the air pollution from cigarettes is 10 times greater than pollution from diesel fuel? So by lighting up one pack a week (conservatively) you’re polluting the air more than driving around in a big old pick em up truck.
While it’s unrealistic for me to ask everyone in the country to stop smoking I hope that people at least dispose of their buds properly because according to national data cigarettes are the number one thing littered in America each year. The problem with that is cigarettes are NOT biodegradable and these buds will linger either dirtying up the ground or wash away and find a way to make it into our water supply, if they don’t catch something on fire first. I don’t know about you all but I do not want my water to be processed after it’s been mixed with old used cigarettes. So what can we do to promote behavior change that will ultimately help the environment? Here’s where Colorado comes back into play, below is a link to an article + youtube video about how the University has voted against banning smoking on campus and instead has decided to “encourage” students have healthier behavior. For the leading school in the nation on green innovation, wouldn’t they encourage all aspects of protecting the environment? If this change cant even come on a progressive leader on campus, how can we expect these changes to flow to the outside community and generations to come?
-Janice
Go Janice.. you are raising some good points .. On the news today there is another ocean trash dump !!! so I think regardless everyone has to get on this bus!
ReplyDelete