On April 29, The Daily Cougar reported that the Princeton Review named UH in the “Guide to 286 Green Colleges.” In the guide, UH was also recognized as one of the three most environmentally sound universities in Texas, along with Texas Christian University and Texas A&M.
So we can all collectively pat ourselves on the back; the recycling cans spread across the University are being used for their correct purpose. In today’s society, in which people are encouraged to go green, UH appears to be on the right path.
But those who spend hours walking the campus have likely encountered a smaller inconvenient problem when it comes to throwing away junk. One cannot help but notice cigarette butts and chewing gum scattered on the ground throughout the campus, sometimes just a few inches away from a trash can. In every classroom there is likely to be at least one desk with chewed gum under it, or perhaps you have experienced the unmistakable feeling of stepping on someone’s chewed gum.
The recycling bins are a good look for the university, but cigarette butts and gum a few steps away from the trash can is not. Is the walk to a trash can unfathomable? The UH community has made a conscious effort to recycle plastic bottles, yet we cannot muster the effort to throw away a cigarette or chewed gum? Granted, a stray bottle or Wendy’s bag can be found floating around campus, but UH does not have a glaring littering problem; maybe it is just a laziness problem.
Throwing butts on the ground shows apathy toward the upkeep of our campus, and the saying “like gum on a shoe” never has positive connotations. In the busy life of a student, scraping gum from a shoe is not a desirable activity. Sometimes gum on a shoe drags onto a carpet, or in a car’s interior, which never makes for an easy cleanup. All of this happens because another individual did not care enough to spit his or her gum where it belongs.
We at the Daily Cougar hope that the recycling bins on campus continue to be properly utilized. We also wish that the small things like butts and gum could be taken care of as well.
