Common Ground hosted an Environmental Fair on Wed. April 21. The event was held in front of the HUB at PSU.
Students, faculty, staff, local vendors and organizations concerned with the environment tabled to promote environmental stability.
Mary Anne McGarry, PSU’s Center for the Environment had an interactive display showing the different types of landfills used in the area. Both the “old” style and the “new” style were exhibited.
“The town of Plymouth used to have an old style landfill,” McGarry said. “The land fill is now more like a transfer stations, a lot of the waste is trucked out,” she added.
The old style of landfills polluted the subsequent area around the landfill. There were no liners to protect the immediate area, which caused waterways and wells to be contaminated.
Participants were encouraged to learn more by interacting with the exhibit. Colored water was used to represent chemicals and toxins that could poison the environment.McGarry also had an example of the “new” style of landfills. The new style of landfills contains a tiered system as a means to contain contaminants. Liners are also placed around the landfill and adjoining bodies of water as means to keep contamination at a minimum.
“I am impressed with the recycling initiatives in New Hampshire,” McGarry said.
Steve Whitman from the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative also had a display showing the different ways people in the area can go green.
“It’s a local group,” Whitman said. The Renewable Energy Initiative works to promote the green initiative across the area. The group was formed in 2004. The use of renewable energy as a source of power in private homes has proved to be popular in the Plymouth area.
“We have seen a lot of solar hot water systems in homes,” Whitman said. Perhaps one of the most eye-catching exhibits was by Common Ground. “We gathered thirty bags of trash from student buildings,” Gerry Berthelette, a member of Common Ground said, “Most of it was from Smith,” he added.
The trash was then sorted through by members of Common Ground. One the recyclables were sorted out, the thirty bags of trash were reduced to one can. Biodegradable material was put into a separate can for composting.
“Based on our knowledge of what is recycled, we found most of the trash to be recyclable,” Berthelette said.
The thirty bags of trash were ultimately reduced to one trashcan. Biodegradable material was put into a separate can for composting.
“All the material will be recycled,” Berthelette said. Physical Plant workers gathered the recyclable materials at the end of the day.
Members of Common Ground saw the event as a success, “We’ve gotten a lot of new members and a lot of enthusiasm,” Meghan Power, President of Common Ground said.
“We’ve had the fair since I was here,” Power said, “I’ve done the 2006, 2007, and 2008 fairs, but this is definitely the biggest one I’ve seen sine I’ve been here.”
The goal of the fair was to get students interested in the environment. “Our mission is to reach people who wouldn’t normally attend environmental lectures or films,” Power said. “We were hoping to get something eye catching to grab people walking by,” Power said.
The event took a lot of coordination, but members of common ground were willing to do the work. “If we have people willing to take stuff on and willing to do it, we get things done,” Power said.