INTERNATIONALADVENTURE - Northampton Community College

eNVirONmeNT
6 NCC ● SUMMER 2007
Being Green – Easier Than You Think
caring for the
PLANET
(It’s the Only One We’ve Got!)
At right, Earth Day speaker Steve Goryl holds some of the litter he and other climbers removed from Mount Everest during the
Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition in 1994. The mountain of trash at left was collected from just one building at NCC in a single day
despite the presence of recycling containers on every floor.
BEFORE ST. PATRICK’S
Day you could fi nd tempting
spe,cials on green apparel
in the College bookstore.
The fact of the matter is that
green is “in” every day of the
year at NCC.
“Recycling got off to a
slow start here,” recalls Donna
Acerra, the faculty member
who chairs the College’s
Environmental Task Force.
“Harold Weiss (associate
professor of philosophy) was
the one who got things rolling.
When he was the chair of the
College Life Committee, he
made recycling a priority.
Suddenly, recycling bins went
from so-so to full.”
Now, recycling bins can
be found in every offi ce and
throughout public spaces at
the College. Marvin Gruber,
assistant director of buildings
& grounds, estimates that
in the last six years, the
vigilance of students, faculty,
staff and visitors has kept
4,058 cubic yards of paper,
cardboard and commingled
trash out of local landfi lls.
Northampton’s recycling
program goes beyond paper
products to include cans,
bottles, printer cartridges and
electronics, such as batteries
and computer components.
And recycling is just one
focus. “The emphasis is
really on reducing and
reusing material, as well
as on recycling” says Jim
Johnson, the director of the
College’s print shop, who
writes a weekly column
called “Earth Tips” for the
College’s Web site.
Members of NCC’s
“green team” (aka the
Environmental Task Force,
a group composed of both
students and faculty) are
encouraged by increased
interest in the importance of
preserving fi nite resources.
Still, there is room
for improvement. To make
that point, on Earth Day
custodians stacked all of
the trash disposed of in one
day, in just one building on
Main Campus, in the back
of a pickup truck and parked
it on the Quad. The pile
overfl owed the truck bed,
spilling out onto the ground.
According to Gruber,
the load was half what would
have been hauled out of the
College Center before the
recycling program started,
but the message was obvious:
When it comes to recycling,
reusing and reducing, we need
to redouble our efforts! u
PHOTOS-NCC STOCK