As the weather has gradually turned to springtime, Temple’s campus has shown all the effects of the season. More students can be found outdoors biking, jogging or studying on one of the few grassy areas around campus.
The few trees on campus have burst into bloom. And since Daylight’s Savings Time, the sidewalks are littered with students later into the evenings.
Unfortunately, students are not all that is littering the sidewalks.
As the warm weather coaxes more people from dorms and classrooms, the campus has seemed to become dirtier despite the hard work of Temple’s groundskeepers.
Trashcans are neglected both inside and outside of campus buildings, and everything from papers to cans to half-filled bottles of soda can be found along the curbside.
It is easy to overlook the garbage on Temple’s grounds since the sight is so common.
Litter is a problem that plagues many city schools, especially those whose campuses are not closed to the public. I am not a city girl, but since living in Philadelphia, I have become hardened to the sight of plastic bags stuck in tree branches, broken glass bottles in the middle of the street and old pairs of sneakers dangling from telephone lines.
Does living in a city equate to living in unavoidable filth? I think not. This campus may be crowded by over 40,000 students a day, open to heavy traffic, mobile vendors and random wandering vagrants and thugs, but all these factors do not preordain ugly, dirty or unsanitary conditions. All that’s really required is a little consideration.
How much effort does it really take to use a trashcan? Or find one, for that matter?
I’m betting you can’t walk a block on campus without finding a better place than the sidewalk to toss that candy bar wrapper.
Half-filled coffee cups and glass juice bottles shouldn’t be left in parking lots or on window ledges-throw them away. You can even recycle. And speaking of recycling, don’t throw plastic into bins labeled ‘paper only.’
Sure, it probably all gets dumped into the same trash compacter in the end, but you never know when someone might actually be trying to save the planet.
Maybe it sounds like a lot to ask, but I don’t really think anyone wants to live on a filthy campus. I see frequent projects hosted by groups like Habitat for Humanity and other volunteer organizations to clean up city parks, elementary schools and low-income districts.
Why not start with our own campus, and set a good example?
It’s true that Temple is not for the nature-lover, or individuals overly dependent on aesthetics. But there have been significant improvements in beautifying the campus, with regard to both architecture and landscape.
Who hasn’t noticed the green lawns, blossoming trees and recently planted flowers amid the re-mulched grounds this spring?
Temple’s groundskeepers have always done a spectacular job of making the campus look attractive, and now the efforts of their hard work are being heaped with trash instead of praise.
Take a little pride in your university and clean up. You may not live here, work here or even like it here, but that’s no reason to throw your trash around.
Nobody wants to pick up after you anymore. That’s why your parents sent you to college.
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