Yesterday the GreenUH team was out in force at the fountains with tons of fun and a mission to spread awareness on Earth Day. Maria Honey, the events outreach coordinator, was celebrating the great success of recyclemania. The University of Houston recycled a total of 249,328 pounds of recyclable material during the drive. This was the highest total in all of Conference USA and number three overall in Texas. There was plenty of fun to be had with a bean bag toss, give aways, badminton, a tug-0-war and a weather balloon launch to watch but for all the fun that was had there was a very serious meaning behind all of this.
It was all about awareness via activity. There were games ranging from a bean bag toss to a bottle relay where each participant would run around with a previously used plastic bottle and attempt to run the race while making everyone more aware that there are numerous ways for us to recycle.
There are numerous other ways that students as well as the school have been attempting to green up the school. For example the cafeterias for the dorms have been using to go containers that are naturally biodegradable rather than Styrofoam, which can take up to 50 years to dissolve. In addition to this they have eliminated trays, which means that students can only take what they can carry, and thus they are less likely to take more than they are really willing to eat simply out of gluttony. Then to take it even a step further they collect the excess food and take it to a mulch pile. This pile is then taken care of by the ground crew until it is ready to be used on the community garden.
The garden is 1800 square feet where the grounds crew initially, and hopefully soon students, will grow a wide variety of vegetables and herbs. These include but certainly are not limited to tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and anything else that you might need in order to make a delicious salsa. This tantalizing treat will then be sold at all of the sporting events, cafeterias and convenience stores on campus, so that we can all enjoy a being green even if the salsa is as red as the cougars are.
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