As much as CSULB President F. King Alexander tries to deny it, we all know that Cal State Long Beach is a commuter school. It is and always will be, even with a spiffy new rec center and cozy coffeehouses around every corner.
That doesn’t mean we don’t love attending this fine institution; it just means that a majority of the students here come from neighboring cities, and therefore the majority of us drive to school.
Yes, we pump ridiculously expensive gas in our ridiculously large vehicles and drive miles and miles on the jam-packed freeways of Southern California. It all seems harmless enough, right?
Wrong.
Each and every one of us is unintentionally polluting our earth and there are so many easy ways we could prevent this from happening. The obvious option is to buy a hybrid car. Yes, the cars can be on the expensive side, but the newest Toyota Prius is now only $22,175. The same goes for the Honda Civic Hybrid (you’ve all seen those happy yellow stickers perched on their rear ends), that is, of course, if you can stand to be on the very long waiting list.
Or even better, you can purchase cars that run on electricity or natural gas. For those of you with ancient Mercedes, try converting to vegetable oil (if you can stand the constant stench of french fries in your car, you’ll be fine.)
The second, perhaps less obvious yet simple tip: Carpool with your neighbors. This not only helps our precious planet, but you and your buddies get to park right next to building of your choice. Those carpool spots are always open on campus, so take advantage, hop on over to Parking Services and get a little carpool sticker. You’ll be forever grateful you did it. Your conscience will be happy and your feet will be too.
The carpool lane was an ingenious creation, and yet so many of us neglect to utilize it. Why is this?
Are we just a lazy group of individuals, unwilling to change lanes four times in order to get to our comfortable spot in the carpool lane? Or are we just blatantly oblivious to the ecological effect that comes with driving in the carpool lane? Perhaps many of us forget to think about how our everyday activities impact the earth. Whether that is driving when you could be walking or throwing away your plastic bags, it’s easy to forget how every single thing we do affects the environment.
Another option is using public transportation. We’re not talking about taking the bus from far away, but merely choosing to take the shuttle from BayCrest or Beverly Plaza, instead of driving your car. It’s a small sacrifice to wait a few minutes with your fellow classmates for the bus to arrive, instead of rearing up your engine yet again for the three-minute commute to campus. For the more adventurous student, hop on your bike, but beware of distracted drivers.
In any case, you can see that there are many options when getting transportation to the lovely land of learning, otherwise known as CSULB. If even one person who reads this article decides to change their behavior in the slightest, it may make a significant impact in the future. So keep your keys on the table and hitch a ride with a buddy. The earth will thank you in the long run.
This week in cartoons…
I promised myself that I wouldn’t let midterms interfere with this weekly, wordy rant that I humbly offer you, but with my inability to balance my time wisely, study enough and encounter the other precious challenges that life has to offer, I find myself past deadline writing this.
So what happened this week you ask? Many things happened – things that I haven’t had time to check on because of that time-management problem that I have. One thing is for sure, I’ve accumulated a bunch of daily papers and magazines from this week, and when we come back from spring break, you’ll be glad to know that I still care about this campus and national issues. And who cares that I care? Who knows.
Have a good spring break and be careful what you feed your pets.
