Going Green @ Haverford

The final results from Recyclemania are in. For those of you who haven’t been following the blog, Recyclemania is a nationwide recycling competition with 605 participating colleges and universities. Haverford ended up 26th out of 320 schools in the Per Capita recycling division, while it finished 170th out of 605 in the Grand Champion division, which measures the percent of total waste recycled. If you are interested, the final results can be found here.

While I originally praised our recycling efforts, I am not so sure that our high ranking in the per capita classic is such a good thing. In fact, our high ranking seems to  show that that we use more disposable items than most colleges. Moreover, according to the grand champion data, we recycle approximately 25% of our total waste. American University, the winner of the grand champion division, recycles 85% of their total waste.

There are some valuable lessons to learn from these results. First, we need to consume less. Our per capita recycling is high because we use a lot of items that we then throw in the recycling. While this impulse is a good one, we need to focus more of our energy on reducing and reusing. Recycling should be a last resort. Second, we need to recycle more and throw out less. If other colleges can recycle a majority of their total waste, we can too.

In the end, recyclemania has served its purpose. It shows us where we need to improve to make our campus for eco-friendly. Thoughts on how we can make this happen?

…to the President’s Office and Vice President of Finance and Administration for becoming Silver Squirrels in the Green Office Program. They are our fifth and sixth offices to achieve the award.

It’s official. We all know that Haverford has a beautiful campus, but it’s nice to know that others do too. Just in time for Arbor Day, the Haverford College Arboretum has been named a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. This program recognizes college and university campuses that effectively manage their campus trees, connect with the community to foster healthy urban landscapes and involve the student population with learning opportunities centered on campus, community and forestry efforts.

This national award, however, goes beyond beauty to the ecological benefits of trees. Planting and maintaining trees reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trees also significantly reduce the amount of energy a campus and community need to generate. Finally, green spaces give students, faculty and staff a setting to relax with others or on their own, ultimately providing a better environment for learning.

Speaking of Arbor Day, mark your calendars for Friday, April 27 at noon and come  to Chase Hall where Haverford will mark its 112th annual celebration of this national event by planting the yellow-blooming magnolia, ‘Elizabeth.’

Martha