By the end of the semester, our class of 28 will have surely killed a tree. Every single class period in First Year Seminar an assignment on paper was handed out. Was it really necessary to create so much waste?

We’ve all had that one class where the papers just keep coming and coming and coming and … well, you know how it goes. These papers load down your backpack and get all crinkled. So, you take it out of the backpack, throw it on a corner of the desk and watch the pile grow higher and higher. I look at that pile and think, “We could have easily done these assignments online.” 

While students can’t necessarily change how an instructor chooses to give out assignments, they CAN choose what to do with that pile of discarded papers after the assignment — recycle. The reason it’s so important is because according to the EPA, the amount of paper thrown away as waste was 27 precent in 2013. Since 2013, these stats have not been updated but that doesn’t mean the number of waste hasn’t been increasing.

In Kansas, one person will have about 24.9 tons of trash collected in a landfill alone. This includes trash like plastic water bottles, paper, aluminum, food and anything else you could ever think of.

By the year 2050, statistics show that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. By this time, we will have all either gotten the job of our dreams, married or not, have a house of our own, have kids or not, basically have settled down and hopefully living life to the best ability we can.

As members of this community and students of SCCC, it’s important we take care of the land and environment around us.

All around campus, we now have access to motion censored water fountains, perfect for bringing your own reusable water bottles to class. You can also recycle your used plastic water bottles in recycling bins around campus made specifically for plastic. 

You could take all of your unnecessary papers you have gathered at the end of your school year to the recycling center and you can even recycle the plastics you’ve used in your own dorm or home. The list goes on and on but what’s important is that you know the effects trash can have on our planet.

Being a recycler and an advocate for the earth, I have seen that multiple things I do make a difference. Recycling has lessened the amount of waste in my home and using reusable water bottles helps save plastic bottles from going to the trash and being littered. Recycling all of those useless papers I got in first year seminar are now surely being made into new reusable products, thanks to our recycling center in town.

The more and more we neglect that the climate is changing, the landfills are growing and the ice caps are melting, the more we let down Mother Nature. By deciding to make a difference in your environment and ways of living, you automatically become part of the solution and we are one person closer to saving the Earth.

If by 2050, you want your kids to have a planet to call home, we must do something to leave behind for younger generations. It starts right now in college.