I have to confess that I was taken aback by the article Spoiled Greens in the latest issue of The Watch. A first year student, Apostolides, was quoted more than anyone who was actually involved in Sustainability King’s. The main issue raised in the article seemed to be that Green Week did not create systemic change.
Do I agree with Apostolides that more needs to be done on campus? Absolutely. But this article devalues the work that we have done. Pizza boxes were purportedly put in the garbage instead of the recycling but there wouldn’t even have been a recycling bin there if not for the work of Sustainability King’s members this year.
And given that Apostolides works at Sodexo and clearly cares about environmental issues, I’m surprised that he doesn’t know that after Green Week, we talked to Celine Beland who is now intending to implement the compost bin system year round, starting next year. If you don’t lift a finger, you can’t point a finger.
So if anyone feels that Green Week didn’t go far enough, and wants to see more structural change on campus, please, join us next year!
Thanks,
Brianna
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Letter to the Editors: Sustainability
Sustainability officer Brianna Aird shares her opinion on Sabina Wex’s article “Spoiled Greens”, which appeared in April’s magazine.
One reply on “Letter to the Editors: Sustainability”
Brianna,
Thank you so much for your feedback on our article – it’s always good to hear what people are thinking about our work.
Sabina mainly focused on the reaction of students rather than that of Sustainability King’s for her article, and we stand behind that decision. Perspectives from many students added context to the story in regards to showing how effective Green Week is with students outside of the organization.
However, through this decision we were in no way trying to criticize or condemn Sustainability King’s. Our reporter wanted to find out if everything that’s being done was paying off, and in doing so took the sources that were available to her. The opinions gathered from other students are meant to speak for themselves and not that of The Watch.
We hope this explanation offers you some understanding of why we chose to publish the article in the form that we did.
Thanks again,
Grace and Nick