{"id":3439,"date":"2018-01-31T14:07:27","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T19:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/sustainability\/?page_id=3439"},"modified":"2023-04-18T17:35:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T21:35:47","slug":"dear-sustainable-abigail-the-complete-collection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/sustainability\/dear-sustainable-abigail-the-complete-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable Abigail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Who is Sustainable Abigail?  <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

She is a sustainability advocate at your service! If you\u2019re worried about recycling, have ideas about addressing food waste, or concerns about your role promoting sustainability on campus, Abigail is a great resource to turn to. Whatever your sustainable inquiries may be, Abigail is ready to address them all! Simply write to her by filling out the google form found below. Any question is valid and appreciated and will <\/span>stay anonymous, so don\u2019t hesitate to ask!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a question?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Use the Sustainable Abigail Question Form<\/a> to send it directly to Sustainable Abigail<\/span> herself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, check out the most recent Sustainable Abigail advice below as well as the Complete Collection of Sustainable Abigail<\/span> Columns below that for some great insight into big questions on campus and beyond!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Recent Issue:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

published: 04\/04\/18<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Sustainable Abby,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a big fan of the EcoRep Newsletters, and often find myself reading through the various facts and figures as I sit in different bathroom stalls around campus. While I definitely appreciate the reading material, I also always can\u2019t help but see the irony in the group that does so much for sustainability using so much paper to talk about sustainability! To be honest, it doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense to me. Is there an alternative option to promoting and publicizing these newsletters and sustainability in general that doesn\u2019t involve using so much paper?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Puzzled about Paper Waste<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Puzzled about Paper Waste,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m glad you wrote in with this question, as it is actually a point that has been brought up to us a few times before. Honestly, we EcoReps all agree with you: it is ironic that we use so much paper to promote sustainability! Unfortunately, that is not to say that it is an easy fix. Producing Newsletters is one of our ways to connect with the Bates Community, and share exciting Sustainability updates, news, or upcoming events, as well as lend advice about how to be sustainable on the Bates campus. That said, we recognize the double-edged sword that is printing these messages and updates on many sheets of paper. One thing that at least alleviates some of my worry about this is that all of Bates paper is 30% recycled! Hooray! Nonetheless, we\u2019ve also been brainstorming about ways to help account for the sustainability that is lost when we print out newsletters. One of the ideas that we\u2019ve had and are hoping to get started is to print on student-recycled paper that has only been used on one side. That way we\u2019d be using paper that someone had disposed of already, rather than the pristine and clean empty pages that could be used for other things. Of course, this is just one thing that we\u2019ve thought of, but we\u2019d love to hear thoughts from students on campus about how to account for the paper waste that newsletters produce, because I\u2019m sure there are a lot of great and creative ideas out there! If you have an idea, go ahead and send it to me through my google form, which can be found in the Batestoday, or through my question envelope, which hangs on the bulletin board in Commons. A final note I want to share with you is that if the paper newsletters irks you so much you can\u2019t bear to read it, we do have other mediums through which we share the newsletter so that we can reach as many people as possible. When a newsletter comes out, (which is monthly!), we share it on our Facebook page \u201cSustainable Bates,\u201d our instagram \u201cBatesEcoReps,\u201d our website \u201cwww.bates.edu\/sustainability<\/a>,\u201d and also our news listserv called \u201cEcoRep News.\u201d We are excited about these different platforms to share our newsletters and more, so definitely check them out if you have a chance! We\u2019ll keep brainstorming about how to account for the newsletter paper waste, and again, let us know if you have ideas. Have a great day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Sustainable Abigail<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Sustainable Abigail: The Complete Collection<\/h3>\n\n\n