For the second year in a row, first-year students at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) signed the TCNJ Green Pledge to help cultivate a culture of sustainability on campus. During Orientation, the class of 2016 attended a presentation concerning civic engagement, hosted by the Bonner Center, in which TCNJ’s environmental efforts were discussed. TCNJ was recently named one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the nation by the Princeton Review. With this in mind, each freshman received a pledge card on which they were asked to select three ways in which they would reduce their personal carbon footprint on the planet.
Organized by the TCNJ Sustainability Institute and the Bonner Center’s Environment Team, the Green Pledge calls on freshman students to select three goals and sign the agreement in an effort to promote environmentally consciousness in the TCNJ student body. The overall purpose of these goals is to reduce the College’s carbon footprint by reducing waste and carbon emissions while increasing water and energy conservation.
The goals of this year’s Green Pledge included:
- Only wash full loads of laundry and wash single items by hand
- Register for iCarpool system
- Turn off all electronics when not in use (lights, computer, iPod, television, fan, etc.)
- Turn off the water when brushing my teeth and take shorter showers
- Recycle cans, bottles, paper and cardboard when possible and place recyclables in their respective containers
- Print only what is necessary, print double-sided and reuse paper already printed on as scrap paper
After tallying the pledges, there was a tie for most popular choice between “Recycle cans, bottle, paper…” and “Turn off water when brushing…”
Any student interesting in continuing to help TCNJ become “greener” is welcome to volunteer with the Bonner Center’s Environmental Team or join the President’s Climate Commitment Committee, which meets on the second Friday of each month at 8:30am in the Arts and Interactive Multimedia Building. For more information, visit https://climate.tcnj.edu or http://bonner.pages.tcnj.edu.