By Avery Matteo and Sophie Khanna, Staff Writers
Anxieties surrounding the state of our planet’s health and its questionable future are at the forefront of our minds right now, especially for college students. From the Global Climate Strike to various sustainability efforts on college campuses, climate solutions are integrated in our lives everywhere we look.
As we go about our day-to-day lives on campus, we interact with multiple resources that affect Bryn Mawr’s environmental impact. Two examples of such resources are printing paper and the sprinklers used on campus.
Paper, by Avery Matteo
As a student who prefers to print readings for class, and who knows many people with the same preference, I am often left thinking about the amount of paper used at Bryn Mawr on a daily basis.
Katie Surkin of Library and Information Technology Services (LITS) provided some helpful information and statistics, stating that over 2,700,000 pages were printed by Bryn Mawr students and 1,480,000 were printed by faculty, staff, and campus visitors over the past year. While these numbers are initially alarming, a more digestible figure is that students and faculty print about 11,452 pages per day. LITS orders their paper from WB Mason, a company that has recently taken strides to transition to more sustainable practices. The type of paper ordered at Bryn Mawr was not specified to us, but the company appears to have several sustainable options available. On the WB Mason website, the relatively abundant green leaf symbol flags products that are compostable, biodegradable, contain recycled content, have reduced VOCs, and have other attributes that are less harmful to the environment than their traditional counterparts.
Greater specificity about the products being ordered, along with more comprehensive detail on the Bryn Mawr Sustainability web page, would be a valuable resource for staff and students who would like to make wiser choices surrounding paper usage in the classroom. Princeton University’s sustainability website approaches this well, including a wealth of data, information on action plans, and the concrete requirements that a product must meet in order for the university to purchase it.
Aside from the lack of easily accessible statistics, an additional obstacle is that frequent printing on campus is, to an extent, inevitable. Many professors still require physical copies of assignments, and not every student owns or has access to a device that mimics the ease of taking notes on paper. Luckily, there are some already existing blueprints that I believe could inspire the transition to primarily digital-oriented work on campus. For instance, Swarthmore’s Information Technology Services attempts to win over technology-weary professors with a program that gives them access to tablets, where they can experiment with ways to digitally enliven their teaching. Additionally, it has been proven that a team of professors, support staff, and administrators that are encouraging—but not too forceful—can be a beneficial resource that changes minds and furthers opportunities for tech integration.
Although the paper industry has notoriously negative environmental impacts, it is a fixture on college campuses that is unlikely to fade anytime soon. What we can influence, however, are campus-wide attitudes towards technology and the frequency with which we utilize it.
Sprinklers, by Sophie Khanna
As a sophomore transfer, stepping onto Bryn Mawr’s campus felt magical, and as time went by and I began to notice the details of the campus. One of these details were the sprinklers; I was stunned to see them. I have long hated sprinklers and struggle to justify their presence. Some questions that came into my mind were, “Why do we need sprinklers on campus if it rains frequently? What purpose do the sprinklers serve except for the beautification of the campus? Why are they on during the heat of the day? And is the water being used recycled water?”
In hopes of finding answers, I turned to Dawn GioVanni, the Associate Director for Facilities and Grounds at Bryn Mawr. She informed me that Bryn Mawr has three irrigation systems on campus: they are located at Guild Hall, Carpenter Library, and the grass athletic field. In addition, they have portable water systems which are set up as needed on seeding grass. The athletic field irrigation system is turned on at 5 AM every other day for 15 minutes during late August and the fall. The water comes from the potable water system, and there are no clear statistics on how much water is being used specifically for the sprinklers.
Sprinklers are not good for our planet. They have a direct impact on our surrounding environment through increased groundwater levels in irrigated areas, decreased water flow downstream of sourced rivers and streams, and increased evaporation in irrigated areas, causing unstable changes to the natural moisture levels in the atmosphere. Some of the indirect impacts of irrigation systems are waterlogging, soil salinization, and ecological damage. Waterlogging is when the soil becomes oversaturated with water, thus promoting anaerobic conditions and causing roots of plants to become unhealthy. High salt levels make it harder for plants to absorb the necessary amounts of water and nutrients from the soil.
I would argue that it is not necessary for our grass to be shining green; rather, we should use the money spent on irrigation to offset our carbon footprint (this is the purpose of numerous non-profit organizations, such as CoolEffect). However, I understand that some might argue that the aesthetic value of our campus is reliant upon on our green grass. If that is so, there are still many alternative opportunities for irrigation that would reduce the amount of water usage at Bryn Mawr.
Yale recently implemented smart irrigation systems and flow-sensing technology to reduce landscaping water usage, increasing the college’s financial savings and limiting environmental impacts. Smart irrigation systems use automated, weather-based technology which is connected to an app that connects to local meteorology to pause the irrigation if rain is predicted. Flow-sensing technology alerts the grounds team when something in the irrigation is malfunctioning, thus preventing leaks. Another method that Yale used was increased lawn aeration, which makes irrigation more effective.
Irrigation might seem like it has a small impact on our environment compared to problems that make global headlines, but it shouldn’t be discounted either. Call me an idealist, but I want zero environmental impact. We don’t have any time left; we must act on all the possible opportunities we can, no matter how small. Bryn Mawr must eliminate sprinkler usage or switch to alternative methods.
Image credit: Bryn Mawr College
