Can Chi Omega be a Completely Sustainable Sorority?

Journal #2: June 22, 2010

Topic: What can Chi Omega do to be a “greener” sorority?

A few months ago, one of my sorority sisters asked a question on Facebook: “Can Chi Omega be a completely sustainable sorority?”  She was using this question (among others) for her final Colloquium project.  At the time, I sat back and watched other people’s answers.  Now I have a few answers of my own.

I do believe that it’s possible for Chi Omega to be a sustainable sorority.  It would take participation by all sisters, and it would require sisters to alter their lifestyles.  Is it realistic?  Probably not.

There are steps that we can take to reduce our ecological footprint and be ‘greener.’   One of the biggest things we can change is driving.  A big thing that worries people about the Ride2FGCU program is driving with strangers.  But in Chi Omega, we’re not strangers.  If we all just buddied up and drove to campus rather than drove by ourselves, we’d be reduce the amount of pollution we’re releasing into the air.  This also goes for socials.  Either we need to carpool to socials, use busses for socials, or have socials that are closer to the university.  When we’re at socials, I think it would be smart if we reused our cups instead of throwing them out and getting a new one each time.  We also need to make sure that there are recycling bins at the venues so that sisters can recycle their bottles.  Instead of printing out documents or forms, we could email them out.  If a sister needs to print it, then she could print it on her own.  A lot of times, papers that are passed out just get thrown out (not recycled).

There are many things that Chi Omega can do to be more environmentally friendly.  While I don’t believe we can be a completely sustainable sorority, I do believe that there are many things we can do to reduce our ecological footprint.