Robin Glynn – General Assignment Report –
Students looking for ways to live a sustainable life attended the sustainable living event to learn way to live a cleaner, greener life.
Megan Rudne Hoffecker, Residence Hall Director, and Jim Hoffecker, Graduate Student employee, presented to students in Wilkinson Hall how they could live a sustainable life.
Rudne Hoffecker said that students can use bicycles across campus.
Southern’s new solar powered garbage and recycling bins.
“Bike racks are available across campus,” said Rudne Hoffecker. “There are bike racks located in the West Campus garage.”
Rudne Hoffecker said that there are programs on campus that offer students transportation.
“U-Pass gives you unlimited use,” said Rudne Hoffecker.
According to the University Card Office, U-Pass is a special transportation pass for Southern students that is valid for unlimited trips during the semester on all CTTRANSIT local buses. The U-Pass gives students transportation with no out-of-pocket expense. U-Passes can be picked up at the University Card Office.
Other transportation include the shuttle, which provides service to and from Union Station, as well as weekend shuttle service to Hamden Plaza, Westfield Shopping Mall in Milford, and downtown New Haven, and Zipcar, where students can rent one of two cars for at least $8 and hour.
Both Hoffecker and Rudne Hoffecker suggest that riding a bike is a good idea.
“There are bike paths all over New Haven,” said Hoffecker.
According to Southern, there are benefits for riding a bike; there is no cost for gas, it gives the rider plenty of exercise and keeps the rider in the fresh and open air.
Rudne Hoffecker and Hoffecker suggest that people can by local food.
“Local food taste better,” said Rudne Hoffecker. “It benefit’s the local economy. It Promotes biodiversity.”
Rudne Hoffecker said buying local produce reduces the pollution caused by trucking and shipping and support your local economy at the same time.
Hoffecker said that there is a garden on campus. According to Southern, the garden, which is located in the grassy area of campus behind Jennings, Morrill and Engleman halls, around the pond and the baseball field, is being transformed into a kind of urban farm, bringing the land back to its roots as a working farm, owned by the Farnham family, that a century ago grew largely strawberries and corn. The garden is the project of the Sustainable Southern-Plant it Forward Initiative.
Other ways Hoffecker and Rudne Hoffecker suggested living a sustainable life include reducing trash. Pack food and drinks in reusable containers and bottles. Use reusable bags when you shop. If you use plastic plates, containers and cutlery, wash it because those are also reusable.
Hoffecker said that this spring Southern’s annual competition Recyclemania will begin. According to Southern, Recyclemania is a competition between schools to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Schools report recycling and trash data, which will then be ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. With each week’s reports and rankings, participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle.
Both Hoffecker and Rudne Hoffecker said that Southern is turning green, with solor panels on a few buildings, including the new School of Business and a few solar recycling pales located around campus.
Hoffecker and Rudne Hoffecker quizzed students on ways to live a sustainable life. They said to wash clothing in cold water, if possible, and to hand wash clothing.
Other ways to live a sustainable life that students suggested were to take shorter showers and to not use all the hot water, turn the lights off when leaving a room, and to unplug all unused electronic.
Christina Preville, a special education major, said she learned a few things that she had never heard of before, including the garden on campus. She also heard tips that she had heard of and may even take up.
“The event was very informational and educational,“ Preville. “I will start to take shorter showers.”
