The Blog

 

I recently got the chance to chat with SUNY Fredonia’s Sustainability Committee Chair, Sarah Laurie (SL). As a recent graduate of Ithaca College, I was excited to talk about what Fredonia is doing to be greener. Sarah was able to shed some insight on the importance of green initiatives on college campuses. Today’s college students are much more in tune with environmental issues, and their college choices often reflect this. If a college isn’t practicing sustainable habits, it may be a con on the student’s list of university choices. So how is SUNY Fredonia bringing sustainability down to a personal level? Read on to find out!

October is nearing an end and that means Halloween is just days away. While many of you have probably already carved your pumpkins, we wanted to give some insight into that tradition and offer tips on how to reuse some of your discarded materials.

Halloween sprouted from the Celtic festival of Samhain, which means summer’s end. It was a time of mystique and superstition when it was believed that contact could be made between the worlds of the living and the dead. It is believed that the pumpkin carving tradition began when people carved and illuminated turnips and other assorted root vegetables in order to guide spirits to their dwellings.

If you have ever committed to painting a room in your house, you know how much work it is. There are endless trips to the home improvement store, comparing paint swatches, fielding unwelcomed family opinions, taping the edges of the room, and laying down the plastic. Oh and you can’t forget the edging. However, in the end, it’s usually worth it when you step back and take in a new color. It can change the feeling and look of the room.

Has this ever happened to you? You have company over and are trying to be polite. You offer them a beverage: coffee, tea, pop? “No, water is fine.” As you take a glass and began to fill it from the tap, you see your guest scrunch their nose. “Actually, I’m not thirsty, but thank you.” Some people believe tap water is unsafe, and that bottled water is safer because the companies who produce it have more regulations. But where do these bottling companies get their water? And how is bottled water regulated compared to how your tap water is regulated?

One of the main differences between bottled water and tap water is the regulatory office that oversees its production. It’s the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) responsibility to make sure that your tap water is safe. The EPA also puts together your annual water quality report. Bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because it is sold as a food product. Both the FDA and the EPA have stringent regulations for the safety of its water, and acknowledge each other’s standards.