Letter to the Editor: And please, stop putting trash in the recycling bins.

Since I was a child, I have been discouraged by our society’s lack of regard for the planet we live on. Among my peers in high school, I felt like I was surrounded by apathy and ignorance about the environment, and I was determined to find a university with a strong support for environmental initiatives.

I understand that not everyone makes environmental issues a priority in life. Studies, impending job searches, graduate school and other daily challenges can demand more immediate attention. That said, it would be nice if our student body at least recognized the issue and supported the efforts of those students who are passionate about it.

In one of my classes, I conducted interviews with students regarding views on global warming. It seems impossible to believe that we all attend such a globally aware and progressive school such as Lehigh, yet a majority said they don’t even believe global warming exists. When the divestment petition went around — the effort to promote the university’s divestment from using fossil fuels and to stop engaging with corporations that are affiliated with fossil fuel production or processing — I regularly heard students dismissing it as “a crazy tree hugger dream that will never work” because “we go to a school that doesn’t care about that stuff.” Yup, they did. That is some pretty depressing stuff.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to go to a school where a significant portion of the student body doesn’t care about our existence as a species. So I decided to try to figure out why there is such disregard for the environment at Lehigh. Is it just unawareness, lazy thinking or intentional obtuseness based on doing what’s easiest? After much investigation, observation and rumination, I concluded that it’s all three, compounded by the fact that, unless something is bright and shiny, most students are simply too self-involved to notice.

Unlike those who live with the constant reminder of smog, we at Lehigh don’t really see much pollution in the air. We can’t physically see the carbon dioxide, and we don’t notice when a plant becomes extinct. So here’s a little bit of flash to get your attention: 2 DEGREES. That’s all. We will not survive if the temperature rises any more than that. That means we are allowed 565 gigatons of carbon dioxide to pour into the air, and that’s all. Anything more, we exceed 2 degrees and it’s over.

A quick calculation of the documented coal and oil reserves shows that if we go forward and use these fossil fuels, we will be putting 2,795 gigatons into the atmosphere. The average temperature has already risen by almost an entire degree, which is a lot more than you think it is. To be clear: We have to keep 80 percent of our coal and oil reserves locked away in order to survive as a species.

Universities are supposed to be a place of innovation, creativity, excitement and social movements. If we can’t be a leading university in areas other than engineering and business, are we really as proud to go to Lehigh as we say we are? That being said, the university is making some positive strides to be more environmentally cautious. They are working on using biofuels for the bus system, and Sodexo recently announced a new endorsement of the Environmental Protection Agencies Food Recovery Challenge.

Now it’s time for the student body to support these efforts. We have the resources to turn Lehigh into a sustainable green university through new forms of clean energy and energy saving techniques: a recycling system that is actually implemented, a push to be a walking campus, and a school wide composting system. There are a number of student groups that could use more support, such as Green Initiatives, Ecoreps, and the Coalition of Concerned Students.

Get educated, maybe take an environmental studies class and raise your awareness by learning the facts. Do yourselves a favor and read the Rolling Stone article by Bill McKibben entitled “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Myth.” We can make a change this if we all work together and take responsibility for our planet. And please, stop putting trash in the recycling bins.