Contributed by Sean Dunn, graduate assistant for Recreation, Park and Leisure Studies – <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A student coalition calling for a ban on the sale of\nsingle-use plastic water bottles on Cortland\u2019s campus has gathered more than\n650 signatures over the course of the fall semester. Under the leadership of\nCortland graduate students Olivia Terry and Sean Dunn, the Clean Water\nCoalition (CWC) has spotlighted the environmental and social problems\nassociated with the bottled water industry through informative tabling exhibits\nand educational events. By collaborating with a number of environmental\norganizations and academic departments on campus, Terry and Dunn\u2019s cause has\nrecognized a fundamental incompatibility between the sale of bottled water and\nthe college\u2019s sustainability goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An independently organized student group, the CWC formed\nlast spring following the Sociology\/ Anthropology department\u2019s screening of\nTapped, an environmental documentary detailing the noxious health effects and\nsocial injustices associated with the bottled water industry. Channeling the\nmomentum of a productive spring semester, the CWC hit the ground running this\nfall, acquiring the signatures of more than 60 student clubs at the SGA\u2019s\nannual club fair in early September. Since then, the CWC has held a number of\neducational events, including a free reusable water bottle giveaway and a\nSandwich Seminar. With the support of the SUNY Cortland Green Reps, the\nCortland NYPIRG office, and students in Dr. Gigi Peterson\u2019s pre-student\nteaching seminar, the CWC\u2019s tabling events have played a crucial role in\nspreading awareness of the issue of bottled water on Cortland\u2019s campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The movement comes at a time of ambitious environmental\nactivism infiltrating the nation\u2019s collegiate system. Flying the banner of the\nFood and Water Watch\u2019s Take Back the Tap campaign, more than 70 colleges and\nuniversities have implemented partial or full bans on the sale of single-use\nplastic water bottles since 2005. A student-led climate change protest\ndisrupted a football game between Harvard and Yale for nearly an hour on\nSaturday, while activists in California successfully lobbied for the UC system\nto divest from fossil fuels last month. As the effects of global climate change\nbecome jarringly embedded in our day-to-day reality, activist groups on college\ncampuses are mounting a defense against environmental destruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riding the high of a successful fall campaign, the CWC is\nlooking to solidify the public right to clean, free drinking water in the\nspring semester. With the Auxiliary Services Corporation\u2019s (ASC) contract with\nCoca-Cola expiring in July of 2020, the administration has an opportunity to\nre-write the contract and eliminate the sale of bottled water on Cortland\u2019s\ncampus. The ban would fall in line with the college\u2019s prominent sustainability\ninitiatives, which include the construction of a LEED Platinum residence hall,\nthe development of a large-scale solar panel field, and the signing of the\nAmerican College and University Climate Commitment. As the groundswell of\ncollegiate environmentalism continues to demand action from administrative\nofficials, the elimination of bottled water may be Cortland\u2019s next step towards\nensuring a sustainable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Contributed by Sean Dunn, graduate assistant for Recreation, Park and Leisure Studies – A student coalition calling for a ban on the sale of single-use plastic water bottles on Cortland\u2019s campus has gathered more than 650 signatures over the course of the fall semester. Under<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2045,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions\/2045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}