My first idea for the project would be an expansion off of a research paper I did last semester in Community Psychology. I looked at the way in which our recycling program is run on campus and then did research on other schools and their programs. This semester I would want to work to implement some of the practices that other schools and large communities are doing that we are not. These include things such as given both specific and general feedback to people about how we are doing in terms of recycling. How we are doing could be explained by the volume of material recycled, the degree to which the recycling is contaminated and the percentage of recycled materials that are thrown away. Also, I would like to conduct some surveys on campus to maybe find out about peoples’ attitudes towards recycling and why they would or would not engage in it. In addition, I think it would be neat to look into setting up some way for people who live off campus to be able to recycle effectively. I live in an apartment on Sandusky Street so we are not provided with a blue recycling bin that we can put outside to be collected by the town. How could we change this? If not for everyone who lives in these kinds of apartments then at least the OWU students.
My second idea for a project does not necessarily lean towards directly going green, but it does have to do with Ohio Wesleyan and the care they show our community. I find it very strange that when it snows owu shovels (or uses that little plow thing) on the sidewalk behind ham will starting on the corner of ham will and going to sandusky street but it completely skips the other half of spring street and the other side of the road. I find it horribly dangerous that people walk on ice covered sidewalks to get to class. I think this may also be part of the reason why so many people drive to class and well drive everywhere around campus. Our campus is not too spread out, but people do not want to walk especially when the sidewalks make it so highly possible that you will fall on your face in front of everyone. Going off of this idea I think it may be cool to look into the idea of having a shuttle to drive people from the dorm side to the academic side of campus or to and from the library or bar. They have this at Colgate where my sister goes and they implemented it after a serious drunk driving accident that killed four students, but maybe we could get something like this going before such a horrible wake up call.
My last idea for a project would involve putting automatic light sensors in many of the older academic buildings on campus. I think the science center may have them already. It seems to me like a big waste of energy for lights (hall or bathroom especially) to be sitting on all day when nobody is even around.
