KentNewsNet.com

Well, Doc Lefton, some folks might think that if you really wanted to save the University a bunch of money you might consider travelling business class from now on...ouch! Well whadya know...didn't even take two or three days to save the University some money, let alone 90 days, now did it?

Sigh...doesn't the University need some kind of "class projects" for all it's seniors/grad students/research assistants/entrepreneurs and other young skulls full of mush??? It ain't rocket science, folks even though Yank & Co. might want you to think it is! Try something like this:

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Branch out with new trees
Horticulturists want to see more of these in Northeast Ohio land- and streetscapes

By Jim Chatfield
Special to the Beacon Journal

Published on Saturday, Jun 14, 2008

Yada...yada...yada..."Here are the whys for our six trees for today, some big, some small, some native, some exotic, some renowned for foliage or flowers, some for fruit or form.

Silver Linden (Tilia tomentosa)...Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia). Pagoda Dogwood. (Cornus alternifolia). Bur Oak. (Quercus macrocarpa). Fernleaf Beech. (Fagus sylvatica ''Asplenifolia''). Sweetbay Magnolia. (Magnolia virginiana).

Enjoy a tree. Buy a tree. Plant a tree. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: ''The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.''

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Um...Willow Trees might just be a great addition to the new "parking lot drainage gardens" that seem to be in vogue now too.

Everyone knows by now that trees are carbon-fixing, eh? So why the "grande" open spaces of high-maintenance grass lawn" in areas such as the Allerton Apartment Complex or Small Group? Lawn areas that the University is paying beacucoup monies to fertilize/weed/mow. Why not plant more trees? Why not plant more Western Prairie Grass or even clover? I seem to recall the honeybees like that stuff, don't ya know. Um...doesn't "less mowing" translate into less gasoline used? Ditto less fertilizer/weed killer???

Now, if the University can actively "import" students from India, why not the "compressed air" car their Nation's technology has come up with? For purely on-Campus use, of course. Same would definitely be more economical and probably just as safe as a Cushman.

Um...wanna boost the recycle rates of plastic bottles on Campus? Put a dam $.25 cent deposit on each one sold on Campus, eh? Oh, yeah...ban the Stater from being put in containers at Campus Bus Stops too!

Sounds like a perfect venue for employee suggestions, eh?

Wouldn't it make more sense to ask the folk who work and live on-campus for their input, and then act on that input?
No "consultant" could ever know KSU like the people who work here, but why take advantage of a perfectly good resource when you can throw gobs of money at people who don't have a clue about us?

KSU Admin needs to wake up to the fact that how they approach problems is sometimes part of the problem.

Seeing how most colleges have such an acting hire on staff who generates ideas for better sustainability, Kent should definitely be following this trend. But only if it "saves us a bunch of money", right? Wrong. Very wrong. Let's do this because we want to lower our waste. Your trash does NOT just dissappear. I work for Housekeeping at the Student Center and there is so much wasting going on every day. You woudn't believe the ammount of food thrown away. Better solution: Let's start a compost! They are both fun and exciting, not to mention it will (get ready) turn back into soil instead of rotting at some landfill alongside your eternal styrofoam dinnerware. How delightful.
Let's be more focused on making Kent a leader for colleges who aspire to do what's healthy for the environment, and kick the current money-centric views to the wayside.