My perspective on the snow day snarl caused by everybody on campus being excused all at once is a bit different that that expressed by most other writers. I am lucky enough to ride my bicycle and walk to work every day. Luckily enough, due to the short distance I travel and determined enough to make it happen despite various excuses I could come up with on a daily basis to drive instead. My immediate thoughts when I walked past the long string of idling cars were:
- Why don’t we have a better alternative transportation system in the city and on campus to get people around more conveniently and efficiently?
- When will people begin to change their attitudes from what is most immediately convenient to them to what is most efficient for travel and most beneficial to our earth?
The University has run out of room to build more parking lots. Therefore campus personnel are being forced to find some different solutions to our commuting challenges. The recent transportation survey and public meetings are a great start for brainstorming these solutions. But no matter how many convenient options are provided, Americans will also have to shift from the mindset that they want to put individual convenience and comfort over the benefit of our environment. If we don’t, we will be sitting in longer lines of traffic for more and more minutes every day (not just on snow days), and our environment will continue to pay the price. Oh yeah, happy Earth Week!
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Lynn Stutheit
Administrative Assistant
Department of Ethnic Studies
