Remember the commercial: give a hoot, don’t pollute? It was a catchy public service announcement targeted towards children circa McGruff the Crime Dog and Smokey “prevent forest fires” the Bear. Those commercials do not appear as often as they used to. However, they should. They should be targeted towards adults, though— especially at ULV.
The University of La Verne is quite a polluted campus. Number one, there is too much waste. Number two, there is too much litter.
The new recycling program initiated this fall is a great effort. It is about time that the University as a whole started doing something to contribute to the betterment of the environment. We are no longer behind the times.
Although there are still a few flaws with waste on campus (no plastic bins yet and much trash in the form of plates, cups and plastic utensils from the Spot), improvements have been made.
Still, even in a perfect program, there will be flaws. The real problem is not with the program, but with the participants. That means all of us.
In the Student Center alone, there are bins for cans, glass and newspaper. Therefore, there is no need for those items to be tossed in the waste bin or other trash cans.
Those of us who were lucky enough to go to pre-school learned that the square blocks fit into the square shaped hole, the circles into the circle hole and so on.
Again, the cans go into the bins marked “cans,” newspapers go into the “newspaper” bins and so on. Some people just don’t get it. They put the wrong items in the wrong bins.
Those early life lessons can pay off, if only we fully apply ourselves.
Frequently, people come from off the streets onto our campus to dig through our trash. In our trash, they find our cans, to most likely cash them in at recycling centers. That should be the La Verne “in the days of olde.”
Those cans should be at some designated site set aside for cans only, not in the trash. We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Then there are those people who miss out on the point of trash cans altogether.
Let’s go back to pre-school. We throw our trash away because mommy and daddy are not here to pick up after us. We do not want to play in dirty rooms. We do not want to trip and fall over our trash outside, because somebody could get hurt.
There is a lot of litter on campus. True, not everyone went to pre-school. However, this is a lesson that should have been learned at home. If anything, it is a lesson that can be learned right now.
Trash cans are not always perfect. Sometimes they are knocked over. Sometimes they fail to stop the wind from blowing things out. Generally, though, they serve their purpose. There really is no need for fast food wastes, bottles, beer cans or newspapers on our school grounds.
If people want to litter in the privacy of their own homes, they should have that right to do so. Publicly, though, litter is unattractive. It is also against the law.
Some students may have the mentality that there are people here who are paid to clean up after them. As much as they pay to attend school, they want to litter whenever they please. It is doubtful that a little littering here and there makes someone feel better about the high price of education.
Energy wasted on littering could be better used doing things such as community service or applying for scholarships.
We are all a part of the same University (and world). We could benefit from a mutual respect for our surroundings, whether they are parking lots or rest rooms.
Give a hoot.
