The GCC Environmental Club makes plans to clean up campus and donate to literacy programs in upcoming events this semester.
With the environment on the minds of members, this club focuses on ways students and the campus can become more “green,” and encourages everyone to participate in its upcoming plans for the campus.
“We have many [plans] for our school and beyond,” said club President Erik Sinanyan, “and we just wish all students would join us in making [our plans] happen.”
For Earth Day, Thursday, the club will be facilitating a campus clean up from noon to 1 p.m. Anyone is invited to help pick up trash throughout the campus. The club will also be providing organic and vegan snacks for anyone who participates. This will be the second campus clean up the Environmental Club has done this year.
“I feel as though this event’s purpose is to publicize the idea that the trash on the ground is everyone’s responsibility and not just the person’s who left it there,” said Vice President Sarinea Meserkhani.
The club will also be holding a book drive on May 18 from noon to 1 p.m. The club is asking everyone to bring new or used books, even textbooks. The books will be donated to BetterWorld Books, an online book store that, according to their Web site, “collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide.”
Also on May 18 the club will be providing everyone with the opportunity to trade off their conventional light bulbs for energy efficient light bulbs.
“By having these events, we hope to create awareness and establish responsibility within the student body,” said Meserkhani.
The club members have also been looking into the energy efficiency of the Glendale Campus. According to Ron Nakasone, interim executive vice president of administrative services, the school has been improving on their electricity usage since 2008 and has saved thousands of dollars each month.
“We saved almost $23,000 in electricity,” said Nakasone in an e-mail that went out through the GCC email system. “This savings will fund five classes.”
Members would also like to see the campus be more involved in keeping students updated on what is happening to improve the campus. “I think that the efforts the campus is making in order to ‘go green’ ought to be publicized significantly more than at present,” said Meserkhani. “The students need to be made aware of what steps are being taken, so that they may take pride in the school they attend, and in turn will feel more invested in being a part of the effort.”
The club has also been reviewing the recycling program on campus.
“We are not happy with what we hear,” said Sinanyan, “What is currently being said is that 50 percent of the trash is recycled, but that’s not enough at all.”
Club members have been looking into finding out more information and working with campus staff to make improvements. The club already has plans to place a battery recycling bin in the student center later this semester.
The Environmental Club meets every Tuesday from noon to 1 p.m. in CR150 and is open to anyone who wishes to come to the meetings.
For more information and updates on what the club is involved in, join its Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=168990862563&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=168990862563&ref=ts.
For more information on BetterWorld Books visit www.betterworldbooks.com.