In 2025, with conversations revolving around environmental crises on the rise, GCSU students are becoming more aware of their effects on the environment and their carbon footprints.
José Genao, a junior English major, who is an active recycler said that while he is already very conscious of his effects on the environment, he could contribute to sustainability even more by educating others.
“Some students don’t know how to recycle properly,” Genao said. “Like when you recycle Coca-Cola bottles, you have to rinse them out and take off the ribbon. And it’s a better idea to leave the caps on the bottles than take them off.”
Genao proposed a program in his residence hall, a competition-style event where many students are motivated to contrite recyclable materials in large quantities.
“I wish I used a different kind of detergent,” said Sydney Auriemma, a senior English major who is very passionate about recycling. “They have this dissolvable kind but I still use the plastic stuff. I’m a college student and I can’t afford the fancy stuff.”
Auriemma also said that if she had the time, she would reuse rags for cleaning and drying instead of buying and throwing away large quantities of paper towels.
Kalina Manoylov is a professor and interim chair of the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences who has her PhD in Zoology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior. She teaches the lecture course Introduction to Environmental Science which is a highly informative course on environmental processes and issues and is available for all GCSU students to take.
Manoylov says that students have control over what they buy and demand to exist on the market. Students should think of the bulk of what they use every day and make it as sustainable as they can afford.
Manoylov pointed out that some smaller decisions in life that add up could be made more environmentally friendly.
When students dispose of electronics, go to an establishment where recycling the valuable materials is possible. Prolonging the life of clothes can also lessen the bulk of what goes to the landfill.
The college campus itself provides easily accessible, labeled recycling bins, but this is not the only effort GCSU makes to lessen its carbon footprint.
There are solar panels at every campus bus stop and golf carts are equipped with solar panels as well. Sodexo, the company that provides GCSU’s dining services, partners with the GCSU Maxwell Student Union to collect food waste for compost.
“What you put on your plate is very important,” Manoylov said. “If the food is not touched it can be reused and reserved. But if it is touched, it goes to compost, in which there are restrictions. What we put on our plate is something we have control over.”
There are also places on campus for students to bring their used batteries for recycling. The Office of Sustainability collects used batteries and there are two buckets in Herty Hall for battery collection, one outside of room 106 and one next to the elevator on the third floor.
“We don’t recommend putting batteries in the garbage,” Manoylov said. “They are dead, but they have positive and negative elements that can be reactivated and chemically alter the disposed material.”
GCSU has also implemented the use of motion lights in many halls throughout campus. However, not all rooms use them which means everyone on campus is responsible for turning off lights to conserve energy.
“We want people to be comfortable so they can create and learn and have all this potential to be the best students, faculty and staff,” Manoylov said. “But also we need to be doing that in a conscious way. When we leave the room, switch off the light.”
Manoylov was told by students that they drink plastic bottled water on campus because the water from campus dispensers is not cold when filling reusable glasses or metal reusable cups. If campus water was colder, students might not buy as much bottled water.
“All water dispensers on campus are safe,” Manylov said. “They have carbon filters which remove harmful bacteria.”
Manoylov said the reason is it is so important to be environmentally conscious in the modern day is this:
The more and more carbon dioxide people release when breathing in a room, the hotter the room gets. The rest of the planet reacts in the same way. Replacing necessary oxygen with other particles is not sustainable.
“Any particle, visible and invisible, that we release can retain heat. All those particles are on this one single planet and they change and trigger the environment to go into a direction that we cannot predict.”
Manoylov said that the biggest change in carbon reduction is due to decisions to burn less coal, an energy source that has been replaced with other sources such as nuclear and hydrogen-produced energy. However, humans are still increasing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
“There’s an overload of information,” Manoylov said, about the tendency of students to push aside their commitment to the environment. “People are naturally curious, but they are not necessarily trained on who to trust and how to incorporate environmental information into everyday life.”
Manoylov supports the proposal for GCSU to partner with an important environmental app called “Get Green,” with the potential to be available to students before fall 2025.
If implemented, the Get Green app will be paid for by the Sustainability Office Council and will be a free source of information on campus sustainability programs. It will create visible signs of the Green Initiative on campus and encourage habits that promote sustainability within the student body.