While I strongly support the efforts of individuals such as Adam Platz '08 in their attempts to increase awareness about recycling in their respective Greek houses and the community-at-large ("Greens think green in recycling push," March 29), I feel that these actions are a mediocre response to a problem that has a much simpler and even more environmentally sustainable solution.
Despite the administration's increasing emphasis on the environment through programs such as the Sustainability Initiative and the creation of sustainable dining kits, Jim Merkel et al. continue to turn a blind eye to the obvious. Kegs are considerably more eco-friendly than aluminum cans -- even if some of those cans will be recycled.
The credo that environmentalists live by stresses, in order of importance, that one should "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle." While putting that aluminum can in a special recycling bin certainly makes us all feel better inside, in reality, recycling is only slightly more beneficial to the environment than throwing the can in the regular trash. The recycling process exhausts a considerable amount of energy that usually comes from the burning of fossil fuels.
One could argue that we ought to give serious weight to reducing our collective consumption of alcohol, an action that the administration and Dick's House would strongly support. I realize, however, that change is slow at Dartmouth, and it seems that pong and Keystone Light will continue to reign over Hanover, thus ruling out the first option.
This brings us to the second R of waste management: Reusing materials to minimize waste. This is the basis for the notorious "sustainable dining kit," This is a very commendable program, and I salute those few individuals who actually participate. Unfortunately, despite Merkel's hopes that one day every Dartmouth student will carry their own kit, such a plan does not seem very feasible.
Meanwhile, each fraternity consumes approximately 60-80 cases of beer each week, according to one social chair. Therefore, each fraternity goes through roughly 2000 aluminum cans of Keystone Light in only one week. Multiply that by the number of fraternities and then by the number of weeks in a term, and it quickly becomes clear that you could build a mountain bigger than Moosilauke in a short amount of time simply from empty aluminum cans used by Dartmouth students.
On the other hand, each keg contains an amount of beer equivalent to five and half cases, thus saving 165 aluminum cans. In light of this fact, if the administration were genuinely concerned with its often-hyped Sustainability Initiative, a serious review of the College's keg policy is in order.
Up to now, Dartmouth's environmental efforts have been hypocritical at best. Allowing Greek houses a freer use of kegs would be a significant step in the right direction if the Big Green hopes to remain green.
