Move-in and materialism

In little less than a week, we will find ourselves moving back into our dorm rooms, apartments and off campus houses, ready to begin another Duke semester. Inevitably, we’ll venture off into a materialistic spending frenzy that leaves us overstocked and well-prepared for the new school year.

But let’s not forget what our campus looked like just four months ago.

With the last gust of finals panic still lingering in the hallways, we hurriedly packed up our collegiate belongings in a desperate rush to get to our next destination. The scene was a disaster — trash littered throughout the hallway, garbage bins overflowing, an assortment of discarded items scattered outside. Towers of boxes lined the hallways, holding the material goods of what students had bought, brought and accumulated over the past eight months.

In the end, the sifting, sorting, folding, packing, sealing, taping, boxing, lifting and moving became too much work. In the last leg of the move-out marathon, due to haste and frustration, we threw out whatever was left over. Everything from mini-fridges to sombreros, all objects we will buy again this year, were not spared the mercy of the dumpster. Unused notebooks were tossed in trash bins. Some of the “trash” found its way to the Goodwill donation boxes set up in common rooms but much of it ended up in landfills. As stated by one student, “If I can buy it again next year, I’m throwing it out now.”

These actions directly contradicted the messages of reducing, reusing and recycling plastered on every imaginable surface around campus. Somehow, in the wild and messy process of moving out, all plans for a green campus were literally thrown out, and our school became one massive dumping ground. We forgot that our purchases directly affect our planet. Our collecting and discarding of “stuff” is a distasteful pattern of natural resource usage. Duke students have pride in our university’s eco-friendly programs and plans, but we blatantly ignore our environmental values when convenient.

The majority of this waste creation can be prevented quite simply. Don’t buy things you know you won’t use. Don’t purchase things you know you will soon label as trash.

So please, while going back-to-Duke shopping, keep in mind what and how much you actually need. Make sure your shopping habits are in line with your environmental values. It might be tempting to get that second mattress pad, but remember that our purchasing behaviors have a direct impact on our Earth’s resources.