Toward a Sustainable Future: Water Bottles for All

Gordon students recently received an unusual piece of mail in their boxes—a water bottle. In silver and green varieties, and stamped with the Campus Event Council (CEC) logo, the reusable water bottles are meant to discourage the use of plastic water bottles on campus. It’s part of an ongoing effort by CEC and Advocates for a Sustainable Future (ASF), who have joined forces to improve sustainable practices on campus. CEC has pledged to stop providing disposable drink wear at all its events, to help reduce plastic waste on campus. Instead, students are now encouraged to bring along their new refillable water bottles. ASF director Christine Seibert ’18 said, “Anyone I asked about [the reusable water bottles] seemed super excited that they got one!” The distribution of the reusable water bottles was announced to students through a creative skit at last month’s Gordon Globes event, put on by CEC. The skit concluded with a rendition of Oprah Winfrey’s famous car giveaway: “You get a water bottle, you get a water bottle, you get a water bottle, you ALL get water bottles!” Prior to the announcement, Gordon College Student Association polled students with the question, “Would you be okay if Dining Services stopped selling plastic water bottles?” Eighty-eight percent said yes. “I think it is really good,” Emrie Smith ’17 said of the reusable water bottle campaign. “It is reflecting the [results of the] poll GCSA conducted last month.”

For a visual aid, ASF decorated Easton Dining Hall in the Lane Student Center with all of the disposable plastic water bottles sold on campus in any given week. Dining Services has promised to stop selling them if students stop buying them. ASF and CEC hope that this project will help decrease the demand for non-reusable water bottles. ASF hosts weekly meetings every Thursday from 8–8:45 p.m. and seeks to involve Gordon students in environmental efforts and education on and around campus. A version of this article was originally written by Tohko Nohara ’18 for Gordon's student newspaper, The Tartan. Pictured above, back row (L to R): Briana Bonfiglio ’19, Abbi Lutz ’16; front row (L to R): Catherine Schweitzer ’16, Tohko Nohara ’18.