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Our Purpose
Imagine how the world would
be, if each of us, individually, was ecologically responsible - if each of us made sure we didn't pollute the rivers with
the detergents we used, didn't cause trees to be cut down for toilet tissue or writing paper, didn't damage the ozone layer
by using certain aerosols, or damage the air we breathe by using so much petrol. It would be a very different world from the
one we see around us today - in which our environment is subjected to continual degradation because of our individual and
collective refusal to take responsibility.
But it's hard for us to take responsibility
when the problems seem so massive - we tend to feel that it is governments and industry that must make the changes: we feel
like tiny insignificant parts of the whole. But if enough parts of the whole take responsibility, the whole changes - as we
now know scientifically with the 'hundredth monkey' phenomenon, in which it has been shown that changes in consciousness in
small numbers of people can affect the consciousness of whole groups.
Our group will launch a grassroots
campaign aimed at getting the students and faculty at the University of Georgia to stop using Styrofoam packaging. The campaign
will begin in November with the launching of our informative website. We feel strongly that Styrofoam is bad for the environment
because “disposal of foam products results in the overfiIIing of landfiIIs with bulky, non-degrading plastics. When
landfill is not used the plastics cause a massive litter problem. CCHW research determined that McDonald’s contributed
1.3 billion cubic feet of foam food packaging waste to the nation's waste stream annually. CFCs used to make foam packaging
deplete the ozone layer. Dispersal of the chemical precursors and waste byproducts used in the manufacture of styrofoam pollutes
the environment. Styrene leaches from the packaging into the food and may be harmful.” (http://www.greenhome.com/posts/press6_earthday_release_041904.shtml)
In addition to making a website, our group
plans to create a mock proposal similar to the one at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The University of
Wisconsin-Madison not only sells reusable plastic mugs at its student union, it also adds incentives to use them. Students
with the bright red mugs--which cost $2--get a 20% discount on hot beverages or sodas and receive a 14-ounce fill instead
of the standard 12. So far, over 35,000 mugs have been sold, and it has become common to see them dangling from student
backpacks all over campus. In fact, the mug deal is so successful it has been copied by every one of the other Big Ten schools.
At Wisconsin, student union officials estimate that use of the mugs is saving 400,000 polystyrene ("Styrofoam") cups a year
from being used once, tossed out and ending up in a landfill“ (http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentid=2197).
We want to inform the students of
the environmental dangers of Styrofoam, create an individual sense of ownership to this problem, and encourage the students
to get involved in the campus-wide banning of the dangerous product.
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