Going Green at Catholic University

By Raelyn Schnappauf

As Go Green initiatives continue to grow in popularity amongst college campus’ around the United States, The Catholic University of America is continuing to take part in the movement.  In the past few years, the University has instituted many Go Green initiatives on campus.

Every year, 43 million kilowatt-hours of green power is purchased for the University, which represents 100 percent of the school’s yearly electricity usage.  This establishment has led to the construction of LEED-certified buildings, such as Opus Hall and the Crough Center.

 
There have also been rooftop solar panel installations on Aquinas Hall, Flather Hall, Gibbons Hall, Pangborn Hall, the Raymond A. DuFour Athletic Center, and the Grounds and Maintenance Building.  Furthermore, in recent months the University has instituted a solar panel canopy installed of 70 parking spaces in O’Boyle Hall parking lot which allows the parking structure to charge electric-powered vehicles.

 
On each waste container on campus, Catholic University has instituted guidelines that explain which types of items go in each container.  Recently, there have also been six new BigBelly Solar containers placed sporadically around campus.  These containers are for recycling and landfill items only and they alert facilities when necessary.

 
When asked about how Catholic University can become more of a sustainable campus, Mal Smith, a sophomore Architecture student said, “I want people to make a genuine effort. It’s so easy to not take the extra step to recycle something, but at the end of the day it’s not the decisions we make that are going to affect us anymore. The decisions we make are not only affecting us, but our children. If I have the opportunity to become a parent I want to give my child the best future possible and to not have to pick up the mess I made and their grandparents made. It’s not only about us anymore.”

 
Catholic University’s Green Club continues to make strides to increase Go Green initiatives on campus.  The president of the Green Club, Rosa Heryak, a senior Psychology major, said her main goals for this year are, “to educate students on how to separate their waste and to empower them to do so, while giving them ownership of their university.  I want to give them the opportunity to make the campus more green by reaching out to small groups of students at a time and constantly reenforcing positive behavior to separate waste.”

 
Heryak also stated that one of the biggest problems Catholic University students and staff face in regards to recycling is telling the difference between items that are compostable, landfill, or recyclable.  Heryak said, “Different containers are often contaminated with things that are not supposed to be there, and this unfortunately leads to the entire bag being wasted.  That is why it is so important to increase the grass-root initiatives and educate students because the waste we are producing is not separated enough to be compostable or recyclable.”

 
In addition to the Green Club at Catholic University, SGA will be establishing the “Green Team”, which will be composed of students who will represent Go Green initiatives on campus through student government.  The Green Team hopes to reach out to student organizations and have them participate in “Watch Your Waste Wednesdays”, where students from different organizations will stand by the waste containers and help other students separate their waste.  Heryak encourages students to continues to participate in Go Green initiatives, and said, “it is important that it comes from the students.  We want to lead by example and try to educate students so they can be passionate about this movement.”

 
If you are interested in making changes on Catholic University’s campus in regards to sustainability and want to learn more about green initiatives, all students are welcome to attend the Green Club’s first meeting on Tuesday, October 6th in Hannan 103.