Across the country people are beginning to take steps to become more environmentally friendly and now environmental sustainability is growing to be a big part of life at Oswego State.
Oswego State has implemented many different programs in order to make the school more environmentally sufficient. Oswego’s State’s Sustainability Office works to educate students and provide them with resources to become more environmentally friendly.
“We have all these projects that we do,” Alina Rinaldi, a zoology major and student intern at the Sustainability Office, said. “For example, Tap In promotes zero waste living by using reusable water bottles as opposed to buying plastic.”
Tap In is a program with a goal to reduce waste by encouraging students to switch to reusable water bottles or mugs rather than disposable ones.
“We also have bikeshare, which is a way for students to have access to bikes so they can bike as opposed to drive. Students on or off campus can use it,” Linden Merrill, a biology major and student intern at the Sustainability Office, said.
Merrill thinks students are interested in being environmentally aware, however, she believes the sustainability office needs to continue its presence on campus to ensure students are reminded of the importance of sustainable living.
“Along with a lot of other things people are concerned about, you fall into your daily rhythm and then you kind of forget about things until its brought to your attention again,” Merrill said. “I think it’s important for our office to stay really visible because then kids do remember.”
The Sustainability Office is very active around campus, working to improve the schools, and its student’s environmental awareness. The office has an Instagram account called “sustainabilibuddies.” It also has a monthly newsletter called Whirled Pees that is hung around bathrooms on campus.
“We have Whirled Pees, we have one each month and they have information on ways that people can stay sustainable that month and what’s going on around them,” Merrill added.
Whirled Pees is a newsletter produced by the sustainability office. It is printed on repurpose student cover sheets and hung in bathrooms across campus.
Environmentally friendly efforts are in many programs that are offered at Oswego State. The tutoring center takes several steps to be more environmentally efficient.
“Starting fall 2019, the center has switched to using cotton cloths for the boards, which are washed and reused each week,” Casey Towne, math and science learning center coordinator and a member of Oswego State’s sustainability minor committee, said. “The switch has saved money and resource’s all while keeping our tutor’s hands clean.”
Further environmentally efficient steps are even being taken in the design structures used in Oswego State. The tutoring center recently moved from Marano Campus Center to Penfield Library.
“While designing the new center, care was taken to choose glass over plastic whenever possible, even if it meant incurring additional costs,” Towne said.
Other programs like Oswego State’s Math Success Camp which helps incoming freshmen, transfer and international students to complete degrees in specific fields, also makes efforts to be more environmentally friendly.
“The food waste of MSC students was weighed in the dining hall and reported to the students the next morning,” Towne said. “It was my goal to expose them to the detriment of overserving an effort to reduce food waste.”
The math success camp also runs all of its events as “zero waste events,” Towne said. With the help of Auxiliary Services, the camp only uses real mugs and dishes and provide compost buckets. Towne said Auxilary Services “has been very supportive” and she commends them.
“MSC social activities are run as zero waste events,” Towne says. “Working with Auxiliary Services, I have arranged to have real mugs and dishes for all events and compost buckets available for food disposal. AS has been very supportive of our efforts and I commend them.”
The school has taken many actions to be more environmentally friendly. However, it is still up to students to take advantage of and participate in these efforts. The sustainability office has recently introduced their choose aluminum initiative.
“In the vending machines around campus there are now aluminum cans of soda you can purchase, but there’s also still plastic bottles,” Rinaldi said. “Choose aluminum over the plastic. It’s much more environmentally friendly.”
