By Kiriana Robertson
Did you know that every year enough paper is thrown away to make a twelve foot wall from New York to California? The general topic that I will be discussing is about South being more eco-friendly with paper usage. What brings me to this topic is the thoughts I have and the passion that I have for making South a more eco-friendly campus. What people usually say about South being more eco friendly is positive feedback. People at South are interested in the ideas of how South can be a better and more eco-friendly campus, and they chime in with their suggestion and a grin. I know that South can be a more eco-friendly campus for all students, staff, and visitors. I think this because the campus of South can be improved easily and by just taking a look around campus and seeing the choices that some students make by leaving their scrap pieces of paper laying around. In addition, sometimes paper is wasted by students and professors not fully using the front and backside of the paper.
The author of the article “Beyond the Bin” is Kaitlin Licause. Licause’s topic in her article is about what professors and students can do to make college campuses more eco-friendly. Licause’s basic argument talks about the amount of paper that is being wasted and not being fully used, and the more eco-friendly ways of recycling, which includes using single-stream bins. Single-stream bins are a more eco-friendly and convenient system in which paper, metals (cans and foil), and plastics each have their own bin and are all placed next to each other. Lichees argues, “Professors could also begin printing worksheets or other notes on the blank backside of old assignments, and students could save notebook paper by taking notes on these papers as well.” Students will reduce the amount of paper being wasted and reduce the amount of paper thrown away by taking notes on the backside of old assignments and by asking their instructor(s) to print worksheets on the blank backside of old assignments to reduce the amount of paper being wasted. The publisher argues their “so what” by showing how reducing the amount of wasted paper really does matter to our planet and affects us and all college campuses around the world. I agree with the author because reducing paper waste means more trees get to live and stay alive longer, and more trees can stay planted and more clean oxygen will be produced for every living thing that needs oxygen to live. And, I know that I would hate the feeling of wasting unused space on my scrap paper, and that would haunt me.
Scrap pieces of paper are kind of like post-it notes but without the adhesive. Take notes on them! Save those scrap pieces of paper!
I know that the campus of South Seattle can be a more eco-friendly campus for all students, staff, and visitors because the solutions are easily solvable, and I have the passion and dedication to help out the campus that we all share. I also know that following the steps of getting this campus to be more eco-friendly will inspire other students, staff, and visitors to help out a little too, even if that just means them taking notes on the backside of their old assignments to help fill-up the sheet(s) of paper. To make South a more eco-friendly campus with paper usage, students can fill up both the front and backside of paper and the sheets of paper could be from old assignments or even scrap pieces of paper. Scrap pieces of paper are kind of like post-it notes but without the adhesive. Take notes on them! Save those scrap pieces of paper! When I’m in math class, I use both the front and back side of paper, from corner to corner, edge to edge to write out math problems and to solve the math problems. My evidence shows that it’s simple and easy to be eco-friendly in just this small way. This kind of “recycling” of scrap paper is easy for students, staff, and anyone who uses paper and a pencil to see the process of something on paper or to take notes on.
If the students, staff, and visitors were to help solve the problem of not wasting so much space on paper or by throwing away non-fully used paper, we could save tons of paper, and, in turn, tons of trees. In doing so, we could keep more clean oxygen in the atmosphere and reduce the amount of air and water pollution that it takes to produce paper. It would affect all of us because the air and water in Seattle would be less polluted because not as much paper would be needed to be made. Clean water is important for humans as a part of survival, but birds also take baths in the water, they drink the water, and they fly in the air. The fish in the Puget Sound are affected too, by the air and water that they need to help them survive. Alki Cafe and the Alhadeff Grill serve fish that comes from Sound, and the customers could be consuming fish that has grown up in polluted waters. It’s a bad cycle that needs to reduce down until the paper mills can stop the use of dangerous and harmful chemicals. I use the water fountains everyday at school which are filtered, but the air that I breathe isn’t. It may seem like a stretch, but small steps lead to the protection of the water and air we breathe.
When I am at school getting food at Bernie’s cafe or the cafeteria, I can’t help but notice that there is only disposable cutlery and not any bioplastic cutlery. Plastic cutlery will get the job done, but it will only be used one time, and there are harmful chemicals used in the making process. Bioplastic is a type of biodegradable plastic that is made from natural materials such as cornstarch (Kanellos). I have used bioplastics before, and it made me feel like I was doing my part in being more eco-friendly by just picking up a fork and using it. It was so easy. When plastic decomposes it can take up to 100 years versus bioplastic, which only takes about 180 days (Kanellos). That is 36, 328 days difference! If the school were to replace the plastic cutlery with the bioplastic cutlery it would be a bigger step in making our campus more eco-friendly. Not only would using bioplastics keep more plastic out of landfills, but the bioplastic cutlery would also be much healthier for our bodies as opposed to than plastic, which has harmful chemicals and can help to produce cancer cells if used frequently and over time. This issue matters because the health of some students and staff is already affected by other things such as smoking and their diet. By replacing plastic cutlery with bioplastic cutlery, it can influence students, staff, and visitors to be more eco-friendly by doing one small part and for them to think about using and buying plastic alternatives for at home use.
I know that South can be a more eco-friendly campus for all students, staff, and visitors, if we can do our part in reducing the amount of paper that is wasted, and if we could save the amount of paper that goes into recycling bins, as well as, if the school were replaced the plastic cutlery with biodegradable cutlery. Our pollution in the air and water would reduce down, the amount of plastic that goes into landfills would reduce down, and the lives and health of humans, insects, birds, fish, plants, and animals would improve, as well as for our entire Earth.
Works Cited
Kanellos, Michael. “Here Comes the Biodegradable Fork.” C-NET.com. CBS Interactive Inc. 23, Aug. 2006. Web. 20, Feb. 2016.
Licause, Kaitlin. “Beyond the Bin: Being Eco-Friendly in College Classrooms.” The Daily Athenaeum. West Virginia University. 4, October 2015. Web. 20, Feb. 2016.
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