 "Photo: Eline Hutter/Staff Photo")
During Spring Break lots of trees at the college campus were being cut down to make place for some new buildings. The arrival of spring is the perfect time to make the college campus look green again. Members of the Forestry Club were selling trees to plant at the empty spots on campus soon, while volunteering students and teachers cleaned up the college campus.
This all fitted in with the so-called ‘keeping it green week' at GRCC. From Monday April 20th until Friday April 24th it was all about going green. This week was in recognition of Earth Day, an international attempt to create awareness for the environment. Each year, lots of events are organized worldwide to promote things like recycling and energy-efficiency.
Earth Day was also what led the Forestry Club to selling trees in front of the student center on Monday and Friday. For only a dollar people could buy a tree. Although some buyers took their tree home, most of them donated money to have their tree planted on campus. All trees will be equipped with a nametag to remember the sponsors.
Brett McGinley was one of the tree-sellers on April 24th. Around 1 pm he looked pretty satisfied with the result. "We sold more than 700 trees on and off the campus today, since 10 am", he said. "I hope we'll totally sell about 750 today."
The money that has been collected with selling the trees will be used to go to the Society of American Foresters convention in Orlando next fall. Green River's Forestry Club has been winning awards at this convention for three years in a row now. McGinley hopes to continue this, and win for the fourth time.
But the most important goal was not to get money. The Forestry Club couldn't wait to replant all the trees that were being cut down lately. Trees have a very important function in reducing carbon dioxide. They naturally remove this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere while releasing oxygen, which is the main reason for the Forestry Club to plant them at the college.
The ‘keeping it green week' was an idea of Khulan Tumurbat and Patrick Reeves, both working at the Student Programs. On their initiative, more than 20 volunteering students and teachers worked on a campus beautification on April 20th. It took them a long time to clean up all the litter that was hiding in the bushes. While wearing green shirts, they picked up litter for hours all around the campus.
Reeves was especially annoyed by all the cigarette butts they found. Both he and Tumurbat emphasized that it's unnecessary for students to throw their cigarettes in the bushes. "The ash trays are everywhere, it's crazy", said Reeves. "Smoking is a personal bad habit", added Tumurbat. "Just use the ash trays."
Tumurbat said she hopes to give students "a broader view of the damage we do to the environment." She and Reeves tried to promote recycling as well. But the most important message was still to use garbage bins in the first place. Being sponsored by Student Programs, they're planning to purchase trash cans with ash trays on the top. Hoping to not only make it greener, but also keep it green this time.
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