William Masselli ~ Editor-in-Chief
On April 22, 2022, Earth Day, the University of Lynchburg’s Environmental Sustainability Society (LESS) held a junk drive to reduce the amount of waste on campus.
President of LESS Jeana Burdge said, “The Junk Drive was very successful. We had both students and faculty bring in clothing, chargers, jewelry, school supplies, shoes, and a variety of other items. This was our first junk drive event and I believe that it was a success because we received various items that we could then donate to our community.”
Burdge explained, “LESS holds recycling tables every other Thursday to limit the amount of recyclables that would have been thrown away. We will soon be having an event that shows students how much plastic they produce within our campus community. We hope to provide students with reusable water bottles to limit the use of harmful throw away bottles.”
She believes her organization has made an impact around campus, the Lynchburg City, and the Earth. She said, “LESS strives to create a society of environmental activists to ensure a more sustainable campus and community as well as making students more aware of the impact they have. Our mission is to improve campus through eco-conscious decisions that help sustain our beautiful environment. We believe that earth and nature are very important aspects of our lives and want to make a healthy change. We want to share with our campus community how important our environment is and how simple and fun it is to make a change.”
William Fowler, a senior and a volunteer at LESS, said, “Earth is all we have. We have to remember that all the things we use every day are finite and if we pollute the air, the water, and the ground then we will not be able to function as a species. It is vitally important that every human realizes the negative impacts they have on the planet and curb those to create positive impacts such as recycling or campaigning to reuse materials for other purposes.”
Fowler said, “Volunteering with LESS will give someone a sense of accomplishment knowing they are helping make the Earth, their home, a better, cleaner, more efficient place to live. A lot of the volunteer opportunities are also pretty fun and only require around an hour of commitment. The benefit is greater than the cost.”
If you are interested in volunteering for LESS, please contact Jeana Burdge at burdgej842@lynchburg.edu.
