Nicholas Prazniak  | Guest Contributor

Let us for a minute assume that the world is perfect. No poverty, no war, no hate. This could be the truth, but greed has led us down the other path. It seems no matter what we do, we are living in an ever faster dying world. It is a crime to the planet we have committed — the guilt we must face — and the honesty we must accept of ourselves. We have become the last generation. More people, more problems. How to live with this has become the task we are all working on. It is not impossible, as nothing is, but it is very hard. 

Look at this planet: garbage has reached the deepest part of the ocean, our atmosphere is choked by smog, diesel fumes and pure ignorance for the air that keeps us alive. I write this in response to the waste that I see produced by this institution on a daily basis. There is definitely something we can do, but we have resorted to focus on distractions rather than this problem. 

We let the dumpsters fill up without any regard; we don’t look for a second chance at the things thrown away. I crawl through the dumpsters at the end of every year and find car loads of unused journals, unopened ramen packs, laptops, printers, chairs, laundry baskets and textbooks. It scares me that I find textbooks. We are literally throwing away knowledge that we have paid thousands of dollars for. 

I have formed the basis for this opinion piece by finding these physical things. There is no explanation for this wasteful habit except for the one and only reason that we are lazy. I have asked what solution there is to this and the scripted answer I get is “we are finding a solution.”

I’m shocked that for a school that has been around for so long, we have not found a solution for this problem, and instead turned our backs on it. We are wasting knowledge.  

Contact the author at nprazniak17@mail.wou.edu

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in guest opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Western Howl.