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Your Ideas to Improve 'Green Living' at Duke

1. More places to recycle drink cans, mixed paper etc.

2. I'd like to make a suggestion to vastly increase the opportunities for recycling paper, plastic, and aluminum on the Medical Center campus. I work in the Duke South building and there are almost no recycling bins. When we have inquired about it in the past, we have been told that we would have to arrange and pay for our own recycling. As a result, most offices throw away things that should be recycled. I'd really like to see Duke invest in making recycling easier for those of us in office-type settings in the Medical Center.

3. My idea for wholesome landscaping and maintenance at Duke: all vehicles and equipment should be electric. Vehicles emitting noxious fumes are often left idling right where pedestrians need to walk and breathe. The same goes for the landscaping equipment, especially the leaf blowers and lawn mowers that pollute dramatically on three fronts: air, noise, and smell. Electric lawn mowers are generally deemed for small to medium lawns, which seems like it would preclude Duke's spacious greens. However, I think with Duke's enormous resources, maybe 2 or 3 employees with electric mowers could be assigned to a larger green -- good for the environment, good for people's health, and good for local job growth. Electric leaf blowers offer the same benefits, including being better ergonomically (lighter weight, less vibration). Also, going electric means saving money -- no gas costs and lower maintenance costs.

Finally, having grass that is a bit longer is environmentally sound (water retention) and having leaves mixed in with the plant beds is also a great green idea (creates mulch for fertilizing effect). Maybe Duke can forego trying to look so immaculate and become more conscious of the environment in the process.

4. I would love to see Duke make cycling to and around campus easier. On-Campus roads are atrocious. The bike lanes are riddled with holes and asphalt patches and loose gravel. This is the case on Science Drive, Towerview and Campus Drive. Improving on-campus roads, including paving and regular sweeping to remove gravel, would encourage riders to use their bikes on campus.

Secondarily, but almost as important, petition the city, or perhaps pitch in some money, to add meaningful bike lanes to the major routes into campus. Moreene Road, Duke University Drive, Erwin Road, Mangum Street, Buchanan, Anderson and Academy could all use (better) bike lanes (well, Academy is OK in most places). Honestly bad bike lanes are worse than no lane at all. They build false security for bikers and false expectations for drivers. Building and MAINTAINING safe avenues onto campus from the surrounding areas would do much to make Duke a greener place!

5. It would be a huge energy savings if light switches throughout the campus office buildings, especially conference rooms, break rooms & restrooms, be switched to sensors/timers. I have worked in offices that have this type of sensor that turns lights on in a room when movement is detected and also switches lights off when there is an extended period of time with no movement in the room. It is a huge energy waste for lights to stay on in these rooms when they are not occupied. I bet this would be a huge savings for the organization!

6. First determine where the most waste occurs on campus and corrected this in a way this is energy effective. Avoid doing and publicizing "politically correct" green activities that actually cause more damage to the environment. In fact, determine what those are and publicize them.