The Keene State College Eco Reps have begun their journey to ban plastic water bottles on campus. On Monday, December 7, the Reps showed the informational documentary “Tapped” to introduce their long term plan.
Eco Rep members Victoria Drake, Scott Criscuolo and Ashley Bobola worked together with the rest of the Eco Reps to create the event.
“The event is designed to start spreading awareness and educate the campus about our campaign to ban the sale of plastic water bottles on campus and why we’re doing it,” Drake said.
The Eco Reps introduced their campaign to the audience and explained their ultimate goal: to remove plastic water bottles from campus. They provided free stickers and reusable cups to promote their project.
File photo / Tim Smith / Photo Editor
The Reps also set up a poster with statistics to show students just how much water is wasted every year.
The movie “Tapped” questions whether or not clean drinking water is a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold, according to its website tappedthemovie.com.
According to the website, the documentary “is a behind the scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought to never become a commodity: our water.” The film takes viewers through the journey of the water bottle industry and how it can affect the human population.
Sophomore Katie Masso-Glidden attended the event after her professor, Fred Taylor, told her about the bottle banning project.
“It’ll be interesting to see any ideas that Keene can get out of the movie,” Masso-Glidden said. She said she was interested to see if there were any linkages between the movie and the school and how the school can adopt ideas from the documentary itself.
First year Logan Felix also attended the event to learn more about the subject. “I’m interested in reducing plastic consumption on campus,” he said. He said he believes the use of plastic on campus is a big problem.
“It makes me sad when people don’t reuse water bottles and when I walk by and see full trash bins filled with recyclable material,” Felix said.
Felix said he hopes that the bottle banning project is successful. “I hope that something is done about the plastic consumption on campus,” he said.
Junior Dalton Finley said his professor also encouraged him to attend the event. “I’d like to have a better understanding of how plastic waste is handled,” he said.
Two students were also there to promote their Advocacy Project. Caitlin Calhoun and Amanda Coakley created a water bottle sculpture for their Environmental Advocacy and Ethics class. The sculpture was presented on Appian Way on Friday, December 11.
“We were trying to incorporate our artistic world with the advocacy world,” Calhoun said. The sculpture contained plastic bottles from KSC campus that were collected and organized into a pyramid to advocate for more recycling on campus.
As for the event itself, Drake was happy with the turnout.
“We hope that people will take notice and become interested and eventually become in our favor of the idea. The more people we can get on board, the stronger the chances at actually banning the bottle,” Drake said.
MacKenzie can be contacted at mclarke@kscequinox.com
