Going Green Benefits

At first when I found out we had to go on a field trip, I thought to myself, this really stinks I don’t want to go look at the wilderness and learn about recycling. But honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed myself on the field trip. I learned a lot of different ways that new structures are becoming more “green” and how college campuses actually can make a difference with recycling. I know that personally I always thought it cost more to become more green and it wouldn’t pay off in the end but ever since we went to The Nature Inn and Penn State I realized that by one person recycling or becoming more ‘green’ it actually does make a difference.

My favorite part about The Nature Inn was how they specially designed the roofs so that during the summer the sun didn’t shine in as much and in the winter it allows more sun to shine through the windows to give the inn some warmth. Another interesting feature was the big rain barrells (sorry I forget the proper name) and how the reuse their rain water. Quite frankly I never would have thought of that. Also how the parking lot is designed a particular way (one side being paved and the other stones) so that the rain water running down the mountain does not cause erosion. Speaking of the side of the mountain, how they have planted different wildlife so that more creatures could make a habitat there was very interesting as well. The furniture there was very neat as well. The whole tour I was wondering to myself, this inn is trying to be more green but everything is made out of wood. When in all actuality none of the furniture was made out of wood, it was made out of a mater ial that looked exactly wood but it does not get hot in the sunlight.

When we went on the Penn State tour I thought the most amazing part was how they have made so much progress with there recycling program since they have started. In 1989 when the program started they only had 200 receptacles on campus and today they have over 5,000