Students brainstormed how to make Dartmouth's Greek system more environmentally efficient Thursday night at a discussion led by College sustainability coordinator Jim Merkel at Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, but Merkel himself knew little about Dartmouth's Greek system and did not suggest any of his own solutions.
After Merkel asked the audience if an infrastructure aimed to reduce waste exists within the Greek system, Cayelan Carey '06, recycling and scholarship chair for Theta, suggested that each Greek house should have a "point person" in charge of forming a recycling network within the Greek system.
The waste issues that students labeled as the causes of Greek houses' sustainability woes included the mass consumption of non-recyclable disposable cups and the lack of recycling of beer cans.
Toby Lunt '08, a member of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, said that the College could help Greek houses recycle by providing each with a second dumpster for cans only.
Popular ideas included offering incentives to Greek houses to cut back on waste and pushing the College or Stinson's convenience store to order recyclable cups in bulk to cut back on their high cost.
Merkel spent the majority of his talk, entitled "How sustainable are the Greeks?", explaining the concept of sustainability as it applies to the world and to Americans, posting slides with they key concepts of sustainability and with shocking statistics about American consumption.
The sustainability coordinator spent little time talking about the threats that the Greek system poses to the environment and did not suggest any steps that Greek organizations could take toward environmental consciousness.
Merkel, who came to the College in June, admitted to knowing little about fraternities and sororities on campus. Unfamiliar with what transpires in Greek basements, Merkel learned about waste from the students who attended. Students explained pertinent College policies, such as the rule that a Greek organization can not serve alcohol from more than one open source at a time. Such a policy, students agreed, can increase a house's waste.
Merkel started his talk by asking students to think about what Greek houses and campus in general would look like if they awoke one morning to a sustainable Greek system.
"What evidence would convince you that it was sustainable on a global scale?" Merkel posed.
Lunt thought that the most productive part of the evening was the exchange of ideas among students.
"[Merkel's] inexperience with the College and its convoluted social system means that students will have to take it upon themselves to share their thoughts on what may or may not work," Lunt said.
Cena Miller '08, a member of Sigma Delta sorority who said she is excited that the issue of sustainability in the Greek system is finally being addressed, was frustrated with Merkel's lack of knowledge.
"Merkel gave us some great general inspiration, but he himself admitted that he's not familiar with Dartmouth's unique basement scene," Miller said.
Miller said that she hopes that Merkel will be able to offer some helpful tips to students once he becomes familiar with Dartmouth's Greek system.
Carey asked Merkel to speak at Theta after hearing him speak to the whole campus in Collis Commonground last fall. Disappointed that Merkel did not touch upon the Greek system during his speech, she asked him to address the issue of Greek sustainability in a talk with students.
"The Greeks have huge potential for leading Dartmouth's sustainability effort," Carey said.
