Op-ed: FPU ignores climate crisis

by Ryan McCombs

In the midst of what scientists are calling an existential threat to our planet, Franklin Pierce has decided to cut recycling from campus.

Franklin Pierce used to sell its recycling. For the school, this practice allowed it to at least break even and sometimes profit. Things that were being properly recycled by the school have no entered the general trash stream. So, now that recycling can no longer be profitable for the school, we have stopped doing it.

What kind of environmental impact does this have? Fred Rogers, professor of Geology and Environmental Science, explained to me that this will be harmful to the environment. All of this plastic becomes trash and takes a very long time to decompose. It also takes more energy to try to get rid of the plastic than it does to recycle it. “This is a definitely a negative. We’ll see more litter on the ground and it will probably pollute the ground water,” said Rogers.

I talked to the president of Franklin Pierce’s environmental club, Maria DiPierro. She told me that right now, the club is without a lot of members, so they are struggling in terms of getting things done. “We had a lot of people leave the e-board this semester, so the club is having a hard time organizing,” said DiPierro. She said that once the club gets back on its feet, they do plan on fighting back.  Some students have been pushing back with some of the environmental science professors on their own as well.

There is one solution to this problem: bring back recycling to campus and teach the students how to properly recycle.