When thinking about a topic to do my last blog on, I heard of some students talking about how it was Green Week here at University of Central Arkansas. I could not think of anything better than to see how my own school is going green. I plan on being at school here for the next three years, and look forward to see the environmental changes along the way. It is important for me to see how my school is doing with helping the environment because it is something that I am so passionate about.
First of all, around campus I can see that UCA is taking steps into going green. Wherever there is a regular trash can, there is one next to it labeled recycled. I think it is good to see
that MY school is recycling to help the environment.
When I leave my dorm room each day, I have a sign above my door that was there when I moved in. It says help keep our campus clean and it has the recycle “sign”. Three green arrows in the shape of a circle. This reminds me to turn off my lights to save energy and to take my trash to the designated places.
When researching other ways that UCA was going green I found that by using the artificial turf, it is helping campus become more green. According to When Green Isn’t Green, “Conservative cost savings include grounds labor, irrigation, fertilizer, sod, paint and
equipment of just over $100,000 per year. Environmental considerations include saving of over 3 million gallons of water per year once used to water the field, along with 300 gallons of paint and multiple fertilizer treatments. The committee was also pleased the product was 100% recyclable, non-hazardous, CA Prop 65 Compliant and Anti-microbial.” By changing the football field, it is a win win situation. The school is saving lots of money and the environment is being helped out.
Back to green week, the whole reason why I wrote this post is green week. After looking on uca.edu I found what this is all about. Green week is something that started in 2010. To me this shows that “going green” is something that is new. Each day during green week, which this year is April 16-20, different things go on around campus. These include presentations from businesses that are green, seeing recycled materials, and showing students ways to be green. According to uca.edu, “The goal of Green Week is to promote awareness and activism regarding green initiatives through student leadership and involvement.”
While I may be biased because this is my school, I can see that University of Central Arkansas is doing steps into going green. I could not be more impressed with our campus. By being a student here, it gives me the opportunity to be greener and to have a great support system behind me.
Below is a picture of the trash cans that are around campus:
(This photo is taken by the writer)http://thesacuboledgerblog.org/2011/09/29/when-green-isnt-green/http://uca.edu/news/uca-kicks-off-green-week/
Last week I was shopping at TJ Maxx and at the counter I saw they had reusable bags for sale. I saw a design that I really liked, so of course I bought it. It then made me think if this company was trying to go green. I actually had the lady put my belongings in my reusable bag so that she could save the paper bags. It was just one less thing for me to throw away and for me to use next time. Above is an image of the exact bag that I bought found on http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=933&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=nYlRKPWIsPKI2M:&imgrefurl=http://mysisterssuitcase.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-egg-hunt-abc-eggs-at-its.html&docid=BGnMbQiAkCdRoM&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnzPKOofRdk1GNU5WfIoAEHkawrBDiuqQPBNtK5t9QXbjRdf_0ckNZ57vA6teUEt7JGOH4ti5023RVQ6IbYixgjZQ7XgrRzCfeJGiiAet5hUi1w1zrlqcJcns_5DP4Gd0RXGnXJJ7eYpw/s1600/TJ%252BMaxx%252Bshopping%252Bbag.jpg&w=678&h=907&ei=WECIT_LXJYfg2AWmgKHLCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=720&vpy=511&dur=1045&hovh=260&hovw=194&tx=96&ty=147&sig=106795500691874847226&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=105&start=0&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:29,s:0,i:132
However, when researching this I found that TJ Maxx and the sister companies of it, Marshall’s, Homegoods, and Bob’s is taking the efforts to green. The main ways they are doing this is by reducing fuel, using better lighting, and recycling cardboard. According to TJX.com, they reduce fuel by loading the trucks to the fullest and also they send their goods sometimes on the railroad. When TJ Maxx sends stuff to stores, their trucks are as full as can be. They do not want one trip to be wasted. According to their research, it saves emissions to send some things via railroad. In the TJ Maxx and sister stores, they use a lighting that uses 50% less energy than non-fluorescent according to How 10 Major Companies Go Green. The last way the company is going green is by recycling the cardboard that the clothes and products come in (How 10 Major Companies Go Green). This is a help instead of throwing it away. TJ Maxx and its sister stores are doing small things that are making our environment become more green.
http://www.tjx.com/corporate_environmental_emissions.asp
http://www.press8.com/going-green/402-10-major-companies-go-green
In my house at home and in my dorm room, I use Glad trash bags. Ever since I can remember we have used these kinds of trash bags. I did not know until I saw a commercial that this company was trying to help the environment. The commercial I believe is new because I can not find it anywhere on the internet. One thing that Glad Trash Bags is doing is making 65% recycled bags. They make them for household trash cans, outdoor, large, and small. I never really thought about how much plastic trash bags actually use. There is so much waste anyways that is thrown out daily, I am glad that Glad is helping to do its part. Something that impresses me about this company is they are charging the same price for the green product, then the regular product. I know that sometimes “Green” products are more expensive. I was so impressed that the New York Times included that information, my respect for the company went higher. According to the New York Times, “The new bags will reduce the use of plastic at Glad Products by 6.5 million pounds a year, Ms. Hagedorn said, or the equivalent of 140 million bags. That is brought to life in the campaign by calling the amount enough plastic “to cover all of Manhattan” or “to fill over 200 garbage trucks.” This just says a lot about the company. I am proud to say that I use Glad bags and will continue to support this company. For more good information about this topic I would recommend reading the article from the New York Times below, the article has some great information.
Click on this link to watch a video about how Glad is helping out even at college sporting events. It would be awesome to see this here at UCA. http://www.glad.com/waste-less/one-bag/
http://www.glad.com/products/trash-bags/recycle/recycling-bags-outdoor/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/business/media/glad-cuts-the-hyperbole-for-its-new-green-trash-bag.html
