Newspaper Perceptions
Throughout the years sustainability has been on the front pages of student newspapers on campus, shown both in a positive light as well as a negative light. As some issues emerged more prominently than others, news coverage about sustainability focused on some things more than others. From food waste to clean energy, sustainability has been a topic of interest for students and faculty alike.
One important issue that has been central to Southside for years is food waste, and this resulted in extensive newspaper coverage on campus. Platefuls upon platefuls of food have been wasted in just this one dining hall, and many have gotten tired of it. Efforts to reduce food waste ensued, and while some students were swayed by these efforts, others remained relatively unaffected by being shown the extent of their wasefulness.
In 2009, an event called "Weigh the Waste" took place in Southside to make students aware of their food waste due to increasing concerns about students throwing out an abundance of perfectly good food. As students left, they were asked to put all remaining food on their plate into a bin to be weighed, and most students said that they added food to the bin because they were too full or did not want the food on their plate. However, any students who did not waste food received Mason Money as a reward. At the end of the day, there were 450.5 pounds of wasted food.
Some students were appalled at the food waste and called for fellow students to stop wasting food. Others, however, were apathetic once they discovered how much food they wasted. Each side was documented in the newspapers on campus as the impact of Weigh the Waste continued to buzz on campus for several weeks.
George Mason University has made it a mission in recent years to become recognized as a sustainable campus. One of the ways it has done that is by creating Mason's Institute for a Sustainable Earth. This Institute supports many of the university's sustainability initiatives. To recognize the university's hard work in its sustainability mission, George Mason University was awarded a spot on the Princeton Review's list of Green Colleges in the United States. As Mason has distinguished itself as a sustainable university, the university newspapers have made sure to write about every new accolade.
One particular example of Mason's commitment to sustainability recently was an arrangement made with Sodexo (Mason's previous dining hall contractor) to reuse food grown in the Presidents Park Greenhouse for student meals. The greenhouse primarily provided greens such as lettuce, basil, and other micro-greens. These plants were grown in the greenhouse without any soil or pesticides using hydroponic technology which allows for better nutrient absorbtion and less water use than traditional soil grown plants. The article also describes plans to repurpose the unused roots of the plants grown for compost around the gardens in order to produce more fertilizer and promote a cycle of sustainable growth.
Newspapers have also documented when students decide to take action in sustainability issues. Some examples of these actions include a student who protested unsustainable energy choices the university made, as well as organized student groups that made sustainability their forefront issue. No matter what size of effort has been made, the university newspapers have made sure to keep up with sustainability issues.