College Activism

I (Dudley) was studying at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa in the early 1990's. Mandela had been released and the first democratic elections for all of South Africa's citizens was yet to take place. This was a time of serious political turmoil in South Africa and as liberal students, many of us attended rallies and protests, excited to be part of history.

Many people will also remember or have read about the political activism of the 1960's in America. Civil rights, ban the bomb, free love. Much of this activism took place on college campuses with enlightened students and academics leading the way.

We believe that reducing waste is a cause and a political one. Without government support it will be very difficult to make the changes we need to reduce waste and thereby stabilize our environment. Last week in a discussion on his environmental policies, President Obama said "Year after year, decade after decade, we've chosen delay over decisive action. Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense. Rhetoric has not led to the hard work needed to achieve results. Our leaders raise their voices each time there is a spike in gas prices, only to grow quiet when the price falls at the pump."

If we do not put pressure on our political leaders they may continue to delay to take action.

Once again enlightened student activists will likely take the lead in this important cause. This week we attended a presentation on Global Warming at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Members of CALPIRG (California Student Public Interest Research Group) organized posters and speakers. They discussed their plans for on campus environmental programs. These included a bike share program, where students will be able to check out bikes on campus; a Metro use program that will lay out bus routes on the OC and LA Metro to numerous student hangouts, including clubs and restaurants; a recycling program and a community activity program. Members of CALPIRG were also taking photographs of students and visitors with a sign reminding President Obama and Congress to include environmental causes and effective actions that will reduce global warming in the $850 billion bailout plan.

We also met and spoke with Christine Dubois Royal from CALPIRG and Dr. Lori Greene from the School of Physical Sciences at the University of California. Dr. Greene introduced us to a new program at the School of Physical Sciences with a focus on improving efficiency and storage of Solar Energy.

We were pleased to meet up with these enthusiastic activists at UCI and are looking forward to finding out more about their programs.

As you know our cause is to reduce the waste in Coffee Shops by using a reusable mug.

Dennis went to Kelly's Coffee & Fudge, in Buena Park, CA. They did not offer a discount for bringing in his mug. The owner said he doesn't see more than 2-3 people/month bringing their own mug in, and he wasn't even aware of his own franchise's move to become greener by switching the type of cups they use. In fact he did not realize that a sign outside promoted the new greener cups. The owner then used a paper cup to make the drink, then poured it into the mug; he explained he had to do this because the cup had lines showing him how much of each ingredient to put in. This location does not seem very interested in making much of an effort to help the environment (or even to save themselves some money on disposable cups).

Unfortunately this is an all too familiar experience at coffee shops. You do have the right to choose though. Ask the barrista to make your drink without using the paper cup for measurements. If he refuses, then get your money back and go to another coffee shop that will use your mug. Remember our purpose is to reduce the waste of coffee cups, so walking away will make the coffee shop owner think twice about their environmental policy.

Remember to take your reusable travel mug into all the coffee shops you visit and ask them for a discount. Let us know where you went and the discount offered. If you can get a pic then please send it to us at support@gogreenmug.com and we will post it in next weeks blog. Alternatively just comment on the blog and tell us about your visit.

Join our cause on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/196342?m=fa5edc14&recruiter_id=35111682 or on the Starbucks V2V at http://www.v2v.net/actions/go-green-mug

Follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polystyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug. Go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and you can get free shipping and 15% off with the coupon code: luvday until Valentines Day February 14th, for your personalized re-usable travel mug. We now also sell gift certificates, so you can gift your friends and family a mug and help them reduce waste.