The End is Near

It’s the end of the semester and time to pack up and go home! Therefore, we are all doing a lot more cleaning and moving than we want to. There are plenty of different ways to reduce, reuse and recycle during your moving time.

Always keep Good Will in mind. There is a Good Will located on Main Street right by Kroger in Bowling Green. Here you can take all of your belongings that you no longer have a use for. Good Will accepts all of your household items, clothes, movies, books among much more. By utilizing Good Will, you are allowing people to reuse your old items that would otherwise be in a landfill taking up space.

Rent a moving truck, or use a large car. If you have a small car, like me, borrow a vehicle with more space. This is going to cut down on the amount of times you are driving around dropping off loads of your belongings. It only makes sense to use a large vehicle when moving, but I have found myself not taking advantage of them without realizing. This idea is more than just cutting down on your work effort, but also gas emissions.

While moving out, lay out multiple labeled garbage bags. You can label them for things like trash, glass, cans and cardboard, for example. This will make it way easier for you and your roommates to recycle. It may even get your roommates who do not recycle involved. Then once you have your full bags, drop them off at the recycling stations outside of the resident halls or at the Bowling Green Recycling Center.

As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

BGSU Encourages Students to Think Green

Professors around the world are encouraging their students to think “green.” Here at BGSU, there are multiple classes you can take to learn about the environment. Aside from just environmental studies classes, going green is incorporated into class discussion, projects and group organizations.

In an Interior design class here at BGSU, students were asked to create their own stores. The catch is that everything used to decorate the store had to be eco-friendly. Everything right down to the tile on the floors had to be made out recycled materials. This task was much more expensive and difficult to accomplish a few students from the class admitted. However, the students got a good learning experience out of it. They learned that the demand for companies to want to turn eco-friendly is increasing. They also learned that there are a lot of great ways to make a room “green.”

BGSU also has a group of students involved in “Friday Night Lights.” This group collectively goes around to campus buildings every Friday to power down the lights. If you think about all the hallways and bathrooms not used on the weekends across campus, you will realize there is a lot of waste. This small task leads to saving energy and money for the university. This project did not officially begin until fall 2010, but has been successful since.

Keep yourself optimistic to “green” projects; you never know when you may be asked to complete one!

As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Congrats Grad!

For those of you planning to go to college in the fall, make your dorm room eco-friendly. There are a lot of products out there that are good on the environment.

If you are looking for a new backpack, the Voltaic Solar Panel backpack is one to check out. It has solar panels on the outside sewn into the bag that produces around 15 watts of power. With the amount of wattage it makes, it can fully charge your laptop. It comes with all of the cords that you will need to hook it up to various small appliances. This way just by walking to class, you are charging your electronics!

They can be pricey, but if you are looking for a “green” computer the Mac Book Pro is the way to go. The LED lights do not use the same dangerous materials such as mercury and arsenic and is very energy efficient. Mac has a recycling program, where all of their electronics can be recycled—they will also take other brands as well. The battery is non- removable which reduces the amount of waste in landfills once it is time to get a new computer.

Another great eco-friendly product is Kindle. This is a digital library. It is six inches tall and can go virtually anywhere. You can download books right into the machine. You can also download magazines and newspapers. Kindle offers up to 275,000 books to choose from!
Congrats Grads! Start the next stage of your life a green one.

As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Bowling Green Goes Green

“Going Green” is touching close to home with many Bowling Green residents and students understanding the importance and taking the action to recycle.

Nowadays, with the threat of the global warming and the green house effect, the idea of going green has hit the media. The people of the Bowling Green area including Bowling Green State University have been contributing.
Everyday people pay a visit to the Bowling Green Recycling Center open 24 hours a day, located on North College Drive.

“I have been recycling here for years,” said Katie Bruning. “I try to make a trip up here once every two weeks and drop off my bottles and cans. I try and recycle because I know it’s the right thing to do.”

At the Bowling Green Recycling Center, you can bring out and sort your aluminum cans, books, cardboard, glass, magazines, newspapers and steel cans. The staff encourages you to clean out all bottles and cans to help make the compacting process quicker. The recycling center also does not accept any plastic bottles without the recycling logo, light bulbs, mirrors, trash or yard waste.

So what is Bowling Green State University’s Campus and students doing about this issue?

There are many designated areas on and off campus for recycling. There are a total of 900 bins and 250 stations located around campus. By visiting the BGSU website you can find a list of all recycling stations. There are also recycling stations in every class building and brown crates in every classroom for convenience.

“I always try and use the recycling places on campus,” said Ainsley Burgos, a Student of BGSU. “But, I know a lot of students who do not really. I think that the University could do a better job of promoting recycling and explaining how important it is.”

Casey Ross, a student of an environmental studies class, in contrast believes that the faculty does try to promote to its students the importance of recycling.

“I personally do not really recycle,” said Casey Ross, a BGSU student. “But, my [environmental studies] professor talks about it a lot though, so I would say that they do try and promote it.”

The goal of BGSU overall is to educate their campus on the issues of recycling and preserve and conserve natural resources. According to the BGSU website, since 1994 their recycling program sold more than $390,000 in recyclable material and saved over $400,000 in landfill fees.

The idea of recycling has affected many. On April, 22 the 40th anniversary of Earth Day was celebrated on BGSU’s campus. Students had the chance to learn more about ways to become involved with helping the environment by talking to different organizations. BGSU also gives you the chance to adopt your own recycling station to become involved. An organized group of people can support the campus efforts by volunteering to manage a station. In return, you are dedicated your own bulletin board at your station.

Bowling Green and its university are working hard on their efforts to become eco-friendly. Students both on and off campus have a variety of options where they can dispose of their recyclables. BGSU is still working towards getting their students educated and involved in their recycling program and has hopes for the future.

Bowling Green Windmills

The City of Bowling Green has been making efforts towards conserving. Bowling Green is the home of Ohio’s first utility-sized wind farm. In November of 2003, the first two went up and cost $4.8 million dollars. One year later, in 2004 the other two were put up for only $4 million dollars. They have since become a tourist attraction for the area. West on Route 6, you will find the four energy wind mills, each of them 257 feet tall. To give you a better picture of the height is to vision a 30 story building. Each of the blades weighs 22,000 pounds, just to give you another idea of how big they really are. They generate enough electricity for up to 3,000 people, or 785 homes a year. How do windmills produce energy? The blades of the windmills that are turned by the power of the wind are connected to an electric generator. As the blades turn, they are creating more and more energy. Then the electricity comes together through the wires. The Bowling Green wind mills produce 7,245 megawatts of power every hour. However, Ohio ranks number 37 in wind energy potential according to American Wind Energy Association in Washington. To learn more about the energy windmills of Bowling Green, you can visit greenenergyohio.org As Always, Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Happy Earth Day!!

Happy Earth Day all!


Forty years and counting. Earth Day started in 1970 and has been celebrated every year since. Today is the one day of the year where everyone should be involved in the green revolution! It is a day to take the time to help out your planet. Take the initiative to get involved and conserve.

In recognition of BGSU’s 40th Earth Day anniversary, today on campus they are making it easier for you to get involved. You can visit the eco-fair going on in University circle. There are over 50 different exhibits from different organizations, business and local government offices. It is the largest Eco-Fair Bowling Green has ever had to offer. A few exhibits that you can find there are Geojourney, Wood County Waste and plant retailers. There are plenty of opportunities to get trees to plant in honor of this day! You can also buy potted plants for your dorm rooms or house. Get all of your friends and family involved.

BGSU is also celebrating in others ways in honor of the holiday. The Kreischer SunDial has actually made their menu meatless to celebrate global warming.

Then at 7:30 p.m. you can find an Earth Day Panhel presentation. At the presentation you can learn about how the City of Bowling Green is working on the green revolution and construction. They encourage you to bring your questions and to get involved!

Take action this Earth Day.
As Always,
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

10 Most Eco-Friendly Colleges in the U.S.

Here is an interactive map of the most "green" American colleges. Check it out and see if you agree with the list that Sierra Magazine has rated as top 10. And notice one of them is actually from Ohio!



View Top 10 Eco-Friendly Colleges in a larger map