By BRITTANY BAKER
“Real Gators are green,” challenges one tagline of Allegheny’s newest environmentalist outlet, the Green Gator blog. The Green Gator blog is moderated by Zach Piso, ’11 in correlation with Sustainability Coordinator, Kelly Boulton and other Eco-Rep and environmentalist writers. It’s been up and running since August of 2009, featuring blogs on upcoming panel discussions, movie viewings, environmental opportunities, and green giveaways.
Because Allegheny has multiple environmental organizations—S.E.A., ES Club, the more recent Eco-Reps—and because each club has its own agenda and following, the Green Gator blog serves as a comprehensive overview of all the clubs and their current projects.
“Last year there was a lot of good effort put forth by environmental groups on campus,” Piso said. “But it wasn’t focused around consistent themes.”
If you’ve ever found it hard to navigate through the current of different environmental groups, the concise clarity of the Green Gator blog layout and blog messages might just shock you. The most frequent blog posts are of praise, heralding the site and its posts as “outstanding,” “a great read,” and “fantastic.”
Still, contributors know it takes time to grow green and strong.
“We’d like more consistent feedback.” Piso said. “The blog’s primary function is as an organizing tool. It hasn’t been used as a democratic function as much yet.”
You can expect more this semester from the Green Gator blog, even though the Dorm Energy Competition the online site helped facilitate is over. This semester, the Green Gators are focusing on RecycleMania.
RecycleMania began on Jan. 17, and it runs a full ten weeks. Periodic progress updates will detail recycling and trash data and will compare them to other schools across the country.
“The overall goal of the competition is to minimize the waste we produce as a college.”
Green Gator blog will be a major powerhouse for RecycleMania and other green initiatives.
If you feel left in the dark about the green initiatives at Allegheny, you can visit the Green Gator blog at sites.allegheny.edu/greengator to learn more.