King's College has always been about protecting the environment and has made great strides in its efforts to go ‘green.' In the past year, King's Green Initiative has worked with Dining Services to replace their plastic containers, with the Campus Beautification project by placing recycling bins around campus and with the Office of Volunteer Services to initiate the Wilkes-Barre community garden.
The Green Initiative started this past summer when professors Garrett Barr, Maureen Gaffney, Bridget Costello, Tish Last and Leanne Mazurick met to discuss starting a community garden in Wilkes-Barre as a teaching tool about the environment and a way to connect students with the local area. From these meetings came ‘The Green Initiative' which looks at ways for King's to become more environmentally friendly.
The mission statement of the Green Initiative at King's College's is to strive to promote social responsibility by fostering greater environmental awareness and action among members of the King's College community.
Leanne Mazurick, director of the Office of Volunteer Services, said King's has made some major changes when it comes to the environment on campus.
“So far our biggest accomplishment has been working with dining services to replace the plastic and styrofoam take out containers in the Susquehanna Room and Connerton's to compostable containers which are made from corn starch, potato starch or coconut fiber,” said Mazurick. “These new containers are made from renewable resources rather than from non renewable oil.”
Mazurick said the Green Initiative has also worked with the Campus Beautification Committee in placing uniform recycling bins around campus.
“I think The Green Initiative has gained the support of Fr Tom and the administration because they believe in our mission as a college to promote global stewardship while respecting the environment and its resources for future generations to enjoy,” said Mazurick.
“ We believe its in the best interest to provide the the appropriate leadership in this social effort to be environmentally sound,” said Lisa McCauley, vice president for Business Affairs.
McCauley said so far King's is reusing components as opposed to sending them to landfills during construction on campus, reducing water consumption through low flow plumbing fixtures, converting lights to T-5s, replacing incandescent lights with compact fluorescents, and using ‘green' cleaning products and conducting education through the green committee.
By executing this initiative, King's has also engaged many students into this cause.
“Going "green" to me means doing what one is economically able to help reuse as many of the resources that they use on a daily basis,” said senior Kimberly Spencer, the president of the Biology club.
“I have always been a great advocate of recycling,” said Spencer. “I make all my roommates do it in my apartment, and have also done so when I was in Esseff Hall. I also try and recycle all of my papers that I use to study with after I am done with them.”
“ Eco-friendly, or ‘green,' activities can be as minor as riding a bike instead of driving your car around the block to the local mini-mart, to utilizing windows and insulation that are energy efficient or even the subsidization of the required energy for a facility through the use of wind or photovoltaic solar panels,” said senior Matthew Brice. “For example, a major usage for solar panels is the heating of pools, which require a fairly large amount of energy to heat and maintain.”
“I think everyone needs to be aware of conserving. I don't want my kids to be playing in landfills, or no longer able to go see glaciers cause they all melted,” said Spencer.
“I think it is a way for them to try and enhance their image, and a good way to get a little more income through recycling,” said Spencer. “Also I think to a degree, King's wants to do good in the world.”
Mazurick agreed and said many people need to remember what's in store for them in the future.
“I think anyone who uses the earth's resources to live and function on a daily basis should be interested in sustaining and conserving them! We must seriously look at our environmental impact by these actions and take steps in our own daily lives to lessen our environmental footprint and responsibly use and share these resources,” said Mazurick.
Any students, faculty and staff who are interested in learning more getting involved may stop by the Office of Volunteer Services.
| 