It’s Saturday morning. All of the sudden, you feel an overwhelming urge to crack open your books. Astounded by this rare impulse, you decide to actually get some work done. As you walk over to the library, you begin to notice something you had never paid attention to before: the remnants of a Friday night carelessly strewn all over the South 40.
Last year Washington University took part in a recycling competition with 16 other universities. The 10-week competition ranked each university by the amount of recyclable material each student could produce. Miami University succeeded in securing the number one position with 58.28 lbs/person. Washington University placed last with 3.87 lbs/person – 15 times less than that of the leading schools.
Now, before we start pointing fingers, we must realize that certain variables probably don’t help the situation, such as poorly labeled disposal containers, St. Louis city restrictions on recycling and the lack of adequate instruction. Yet, these factors alone cannot account for this massive discrepancy. Other universities must face some of the same recycling roadblocks that we encounter, but they are capable of instituting successful programs. With this, we must wonder if these uncontrollable variables constitute just a deceptive layer of excuses under which the true problem lies. Are we – the students, the faculty, the staff – at least somewhat responsible?
We have all heard of the “Wash U. Bubble” where academia and partying take precedence over other priorities. At one point or another we all have fallen into this trap of only seeing narrow bands of importance in our college lives. But this does not give us the right to renege on our personal responsibilities that we once took pride in claiming. It seems as though once thrown into the college scene, many of us (myself included) become so wrapped up in our own desires and aspirations that we refuse to respond to issues that once compelled us.
Now, this troubling issue extends far beyond the realm of recycling programs. For example, many of us have lost touch with the rest of the world. Most of us grew up reading the newspaper and watching the news. We took pride in becoming informed of the events that shaped the environment around us. Yet now it seems as though our only concerns revolve around GPAs and the next place to get drunk.
I am not trying to reprimand the Washington University community. Rather, I wish simply to expose a personal observation that has become more and more evident to me. So now we must pose this question to ourselves: Where did our pride go? Just because our atmosphere has changed doesn’t mean that our self-imposed duties can. In a recent survey, 97% of Wash U. students admitted that recycling could improve on campus. So, I beg of you, whether you are finishing up at the library and tossing your notes away, or cleaning up after a party and getting rid of a massive bag of beer cans – think twice about blindly lobbing them into the garbage.