The Grass Is Greener When It’s Not Walked On

Colorado School of Mines supports the Earth, Environment, and Energy, but clearly the students attending do not represent their school’s ideals to their fullest. Mines students take shortcuts on a daily basis which undermine the school’s values and show the contrast between the ideas and actions of many at this great school.

All around campus are literal short cuts which harm the environment and barely benefit the people taking them. In several areas, people choose to walk across the grass rather than walk the longer route on the sidewalk, and in return obliterate the grass on which they tread.

Now, I understand the consequences of some dead grass may seem insignificant, but if Mines students are unable to deny themselves the path which benefits them only a little, how would they learn to take any other such path in future careers when their impact would be greater? Taking the short cut across the grass might just be a bad habit of laziness, but bad habits have a tendency to stay around us for longer than we anticipate.

When touring the campus, the amount of recycling bins also proudly represents the idea of Colorado School of Mines. Upon further investigation however, one can clearly see that students are not supportive of this Mines effort. Constantly, students are wasting the opportunity to recycle just because the recycling bin is farther away, and using these recycling bins as trash cans because we are too lazy to carry our trash any farther than the closest bin.

I catch myself putting recyclable items into the trashcan all the time simply because I wasn’t giving enough  thought to my actions. Mines students are expected to create technology which will help to lessen man’s tread on the environment, but we seem to lack the ability to use basic technology which has already been implemented.

Whether we break these rules on accident or on purpose depends on the student, but all Mines students could do better to stand behind the  values of Mines to the best of our ability. Every action, small or large, matters because they add up quickly to have a larger impact. Let us not allow ourselves to cheat the Earth in anyway to hopes that we can truly find harmony between the environment and mankind.