I occasionally walk the halls of a handful of fraternity houses; and I have yet to come across one that does not have at a few, to say the least, soda and beer cans strewn across the floor.
Upon seeing huge amounts of discarded cans, many students probably think about the awesome party that led to such leftovers. A few other safety-conscious students perhaps feel appalled by the cans. Me on the other hand, I think, “Wow, wouldn’t it be great if we recycled these cans!
The SMU Greek system currently manages no recycling program. In a time when the environment needs rescuing and recycling provides an easy and effective measure to take, such lack of policy seems unrighteous.
“We really wanted to start one, but we have no authority to compel it to happen, because the sororities and fraternities don’t answer to us. They have to work with University Park authorities,” said Christine Dougherty of the SMU Senate Environmental Committee.
An SMU student and a member of the Greek community myself, I feel disappointed and outraged to say that we have let this progress for so long. The SMU Greek system needs to take some initiative and put a recycling program into play at once.
Daily, women go through many Diet Coke cans and water bottles. I imagine the number of cans in a fraternity house reaches the thousands weekly. Plus, think of the amount of paper from classwork, chapter newsletters and advertisements that Greek members throw away when they could recycle.
If Greek members simply had a few recycling bins throughout their homes, consider how many reusable items would be saved instead of plunged into the trash with all of the other waste.
Greek systems produce future leaders of the community. I have no doubt that SMU fraternity and sorority members indeed develop into the leaders of tomorrow. However, instead of waiting for tomorrow to make the community a better place, why not start today with a recycling program?
In fact, according to the US.. Environmental Protection Agency, benefits of recycling include conserving resources for our children’s future, preventing emissions of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants and saving energy. Additionally, recycling supplies valuable raw materials to industries, creates jobs and stimulates the development of greener technologies.
SMU strives to become more environmentally friendly with efforts such as the newly constructed energy-efficient Embrey engineering building and labors underway to turn SMU-in-Taos into a “green” campus.
Just last Monday, SMU hosted singer Sheryl Crow and activist Laurie David as they kicked off their Stop Global Warming College Tour, which included a concert and presentation on raising awareness of global climate change.
SMU’s Greek system plays a huge role in the university community, and Greek members should feel inspired by the recycling and environmental efforts of the university.
A few calls and a little effort from the Greek communities councils to University Park authorities, and I am sure that SMU Greek Row could be added to the recycling pick-up route.
Simply put in the lyrics of a Jack Johnson song, “Three it’s a magic number… Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Now is the time for the SMU Greek system to do something useful with all of the recyclable products that clutter their halls and fill their trash cans.
Amy Ward is a sophomore CCPA major. She can be reached at [email protected].
