2008 Woodie Awards
Samford Goes Green
Danielle Cloyd
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
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On Feb. 29, a Go Green Fair will be held in the Pete Hanna Center to provide Samford faculty and staff with more information about campus efforts. The fair will highlight ‘Green’ products and show that switching office supplies will have a positive effect on the environment.
The Go Green theme started to help promote the university’s present environmental stewardship of natural resources and to be a foundation for future larger conservation plans.
Upon his arrival, Westmoreland tasked Samford’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness which studies the Green attempts of other universities to learn how Samford can become more environmentally friendly.
Sarah Latham, head of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, is in charge of implementing conservation tactics and programs around campus to improve the university’s efficiency.
“We talked to people all across campus and first found out a lot that the University was already doing, but there was no advertisement. So we developed the website, www.samford.edu/gogreen to show what we are already doing, but what we can do in addition,” said Latham.
“Go Green is the overarching phrase to encompass everything that we are trying to do related to the environment.”
When asked about the Go Green effort, art teacher Robin Snyder said, “If nothing else we should, as good stewards of the earth, recycle. It’s incumbent on us as educators to teach students about recycling; it’s just a part of the education process.”
Several Go Green initiatives currently exist at Samford. Campus dining utilizes local farm products in order to cut down on the costs and environmental effects of transportation.
Biology professor Larry Davenport said he is happy to see the effort on campus.
“Ultimately, to ‘Go Green’ means (to have) a change in personal attitude and lifestyle acknowledging that you, as a person, are an important part of the global ecosystem,” he said.
Facilities have embraced the green efforts by retrofitting light bulbs and updating some of the building’s piping systems to be more effective in heating and plumbing.
Students also take part in the conservation and recycling processes. Samford’s Chi Omega sorority started its own Green effort this semester.
“One of my sorority sisters put out three little trash cans in the chapter room to make it convenient for us to recycle. We started small, but each day the trash cans were overflowing. I was amazed at how fast it caught on, so we upgraded to bigger boxes,” junior biology major Casey Cooper said.
“I think it is an amazing opportunity in our house to get everyone recycling and preserving the environment. I have been recycling a lot more now. Chi O has really taken to this new system, and little by little our efforts are growing.”
Programs started in conjunction with residence life to help handle the heavy trash load generated when students move in and out of dormitories.
These efforts allow the proper placement of trash in respective recycling bins.
Plans to place recycling bins in front of academic buildings and residence halls are underway.
“My roommate and I keep things that need to be recycled in our room, but it just accumulates in the corner because it is such a hassle to have to lug it to central campus. I feel like people would be more willing to recycle if there were more bins around campus and especially if there were some in residence halls. It’s the whole out of sight out of mind thing,” junior biology major Mallory Barnes said.
“Nobody really thinks about it. I also think that if people knew more about waste statistics (such as how long it takes a plastic bottle to decompose, because people go through tons of those today) it would help them reconsider tossing everything in the trash.”
The Go Green Fair will be Feb. 29. A national environmentally-friendly event is Earth Day on April 17, and “Campus Sustainability Day” in the fall.
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