L.E.A.P., which serves as an important environmental awareness group on cam-pus, hopes to introduce a project that would allow for even greater conservation on campus: reusable bags. If you think about it, we are always given the choice for a bag whenever we go to the P.O.D., and chances are that most of the time people will say yes. But, have you ever thought about the implications that this poses on the environment?
L.E.A.P. Stands for “League for Environmental Awareness and Protection,” and its goals for this semester and moving forward in-clude “reducing waste on campus, making our community aware of environmental issues, and foster-ing a school-wide appreciation of nature,” said L.E.A.P. President Kalina Sawyer ‘18. To make this happen, L.E.A.P. has been collab-orating very closely with Aramark and Lake Forest College as a whole.
After talking with Jason Micen-ko, Aramark Food Service Direc-tor, Sawyer confirmed that Micen-ko has ordered a supply of reusable bags, and that there may even be a market- based incentive for us-ing the bags. Possibly more flex for us P.O.D-dwellers? Woohoo!
Additionally, with the high de-pendency on the receipts that are provided in order to check ex bal-ance, Sawyer and L.E.A.P. are work-ing to ensure that recycling bins will be recognizable near the P.O.D, Boomers, and Java City. Through this, the recycling of receipts will be made more accessible to students.
This March, L.E.A.P. will be host-ing an event that will allow students to decorate and take home their own reusable bag. Through this event, L.E.A.P. hopes to educate students on the many negative consequences that plastic bags inict on the environ-ment. What negative consequences? Plastic bags take 1000 years to disin-tegrate while simultaneously releasing toxic chemicals, these chemicals then get into the environment and can harm animals, intestines, water, soil, and are ultimately a big no-no. So, after this event, hopefully students will under-stand how unfortunate and unnec-essary plastic bags and receipts are, and their existence will be no more.
By the time you are reading this, L.E.A.P. will have already hosted their leap day celebration. Adorable animals such as bunnies and mini pigs will be brought to the College and stu-dents will learn about the process of the meat industry and animal testing. As part of this project, L.E.A.P. hopes that students will sign the pledge to boycott animal-tested products.
Overall, one can see how important L.E.A.P. is in providing environmental education to the Lake Forest College student body. The use of reusable bags and recycling bins would help tremen-dously in minimizing the harm inict-ed on the environment. Make sure to go to the L.E.A.P. event in March, as your presence and participation are requested to make a change, together.
