Author: Michael Darling
When I heard that Oxy’s Sustainability Fund was going to co-sponsor last weekend’s “Go Green” dance, I was all set to sink my satirical chompers into the concept of a dance designed to raise awareness of eco-political issues. When I heard that the dance didn’t even have the promised organic beer and bio-degradable cups, I was prepared to call this campus out on the blatant hypocrisy of using money marked for helping the school become eco-friendly to pay for yet another four hour sweaty grope-fest. I was even set to suggest that in the spirit of the event we should have an all-you-can-eat dinner to raise awareness of the global food shortage.
Now, I use the past tense because I decided to do some research before blindly charging unto the breach, so I contacted a few people who were involved in the organizing of the dance to get some answers. The dance was part of Delta Omicron Tao’s proposal for projects involving green awareness. Sustainability Fund President Henry McMillan (senior) said, “We wanted to support this proposal because a lot of students still do not know what the fund is and what it is for. We, as a committee, allocate funding.” Once the proposal has been approved the money goes to the proposing campus group and the Sustainability Fund no longer has any control over the project.
So, what happened to the organic beer and biodegradable cups? McMillan says “Organic beer was never a part of their proposal. I did not even know that it would be a type three event.” Delta member Ali Newcomer (senior) said, “The organic beer thing started as a joke.”
Even though it started as a joke, the sorority did try to track down kegs of organic beer and advertised the dance as having such, but they were unable to locate any. Interestingly, in a Facebook message sent out at 1:00 PM on the day of the dance, there was still a promise of organic beer. The lack of the intended biodegradable cups was merely an instance of delivery problems. Newcomer said “The biodegradable cups came the following day and we are going to use them for Doctors and Nurses, our biggest event of the year. I’m assuming far more people are going to be coming to Doctors and Nurses so now all of the cups are going to that beer garden, where they will probably make a bigger difference.” In the end, it would appear that the green intentions of the dance were undone by forces beyond the planners’ control.
But still, the question remains: why did we need the dance? From my perspective, it was no different from any other low budget, student-organized Oxy dance. The “Go Green” week leading up to the dance did help in some way. There were a few positive things to come out of the “Go Green” week that went toward helping to achieve greater awareness of the Fund. According to reports I’ve heard, the members of Delta sitting in the quad registered over 60 people in the Sustainability Fund. That’s over $1200 raised with the intent of making our campus eco-friendly.
There were some green activities: the standard Cooler wall display and a clothes drive. But still, why the dance? The dance was nothing but a pat on the back we gave ourselves to celebrate doing a small amount of environmental work. After giving a little more than lip service to the green cause, we decided to celebrate our hard work by performing the periodic weekend ritual of the drunken Cooler dance with only a tangential relation to the “Go Green” theme. During the hour I spent at the event, sadly after the non-organic beer ran out, the only people I saw dressed in recycled clothing were members of Delta. As far as I could tell, everyone else was dressed in their usual Saturday night costumes.
As I write this, a week separated from the dance, I find I am conflicted about how I feel about the whole “Go Green Week” experience. I’ve donated my twenty dollars to the Sustainability Fund both this semester and last and I still don’t know where the money goes. This event was the first Sustainability Fund project of which I’ve been aware. I respect the good intentions of Delta, RHA and the Fund in putting on the “Go Green Week,” but it seems they could have done so much more to promote a green message.
In hindsight, all of the talk of green issues seemed like a justification for putting on a dance. I have no problem with Oxy dances; I don’t usually care for them, but I’m in favor of them existing. What I don’t like though, is when we try to justify something designed for our own entertainment under the premise of a social issue. I’m told that the intention of the dance’s request to wear recycled outfits was sincere, but I don’t know if that’s enough.
The money used for the dance could have gone to many true green activities: we could have replaced light bulbs where we could with compact florescent bulbs, planted a few more trees around the campus, or even started a fund for solar panels. There are so many things we could have done to help Oxy become carbon-neutral. But alas, we decided to do as we often do and dance our cares away. There is some hope though as RHA has announced a recycling challenge to draw attention and action to making Oxy greener. Let us take action now and not just dance our way through life when there’s so much we can change.
Michael Darling is a junior History major. He can be reached at mdarling@oxy.edu.
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