Row, Reuse, Recycle
April 21, 2008 | Women's Rowing
With Earth Day on Tuesday, as well as the 2008 Wisconsin Academic Awards Banquet, we looked closer at what a couple of the outstanding student-athletes that are a part of Wisconsin athletics are up to. Read on to learn more about two of Wisconsin's women's rowers.
Surely you have come upon something in your life you didn't like. Some people just vent about it and that is enough to make them feel better. Others don't just talk, they do something about it. Maggie Galloway and Annie D'Amato, both juniors on the Wisconsin women's rowing team, are doing something about it.
'During my freshman year, I was putting something in the recycling bin and one of my coaches said that all of the recycling bin materials just get thrown in the trash because there wasn't a pick up,' explained Galloway. 'That sort of peeved me, so I made a phone call. It took about two seconds and I set up a recycling pick up for the boathouse once a week.
'Different team members took turns and we would just gather up the recycling from the different bins once a week and take it outside to the drop. We did that for a couple of months and then after a little while, we got it incorporated into the custodial staff's jobs so we aren't actually physically picking it up anymore, but it is getting put in the right place.'
Sometimes it is as simple as making a phone call to get a problem solved, and other times it can take years of work and persistence to reach a payoff.
That has been the next step for Galloway and D'Amato.
REthink Wisconsin came together with the help of UW Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies professor Jack Kloppenburg. He teaches a popular course on campus called Introduction to Environmental Studies 112.
'Independently, three sets of students came to me,' said Kloppenburg. 'One of the groups included women on the rowing team. They said, `you know, we don 't recycle anything over there and we would like to get that going. We've talked about it with our coach and it seems like there is a good possibility here. ' Then I had your typical greens in the course who are from WISPIRG and they said we would like to do something on recycling. I also had a couple of people from the Greek community, from a fraternity, who came in. I thought, `wow, this is cool.' Here I 've got the Greeks, the Greens and the Jocks all interested in what we could do to clean up the campus and get things recycled.
'We got all them together and they jointly formed a group called REthink Wisconsin - students for reducing, reusing and recycling.'
According to the Web, 'The coalition works to educate the public about the benefits of reducing, reusing and recycling waste, takes action to help people implement sustainable waste management practices, and promotes the adoption of strong sustainable waste management policies across campus. REthink Wisconsin welcomes the support and participation of individuals and organizations committed to a more sustainable UW. '
The group is working with campus dorms, as well as fraternities and sororities to start and improve on existing recycling practices there and with the entire campus community.
Then there is athletics, where the short-term goal has become recycling at Wisconsin home football games in the fall, thanks in large part to Galloway and D'Amato.
'I can't say enough about Maggie and Annie,' said Kloppenburg. 'The whole women's rowing team has taken real leadership on this and is recruiting people from elsewhere and from other teams. What they are doing is working through SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) to encourage other teams to begin the sorts of initiatives that they are doing. One of those initiatives involves recycling at the Fetzer Center similarly to how they did it at Porter Boathouse.'
If the goal of recycling at football games becomes reality, thanks will be due to the two junior rowers, but also a host of other people.
'John Finkler is heading up a committee of athletic department staff, as well as students,' said Galloway, a biological aspects of conservation major. 'We are hoping to put together a huge program that will start next year and that will require somewhere between 60 and 100 student volunteers who will serve as recycling ambassadors. They'll be recycling bins all over the place.
'We are just starting next year with football to see how it goes and then hopefully expand to other events after the season if it goes well. I think a lot of the concern with the program's success lies with getting the fans involved. Once any amount of trash gets in the recycling bin, it can no longer be recycled. That is why there is such a push for volunteers to get people directed to the right bins.'
The proposed system would involve recycling bins strategically placed throughout Camp Randall Stadium. More importantly, recycling ambassadors made up of UW students would encourage fans to toss their recyclables in the right place and to establish a culture of recycling among Badger fans. Theme days might be set up where one game, student-athletes would make up the ambassadors, while on another Saturday, campus freshmen might make up the ambassadors. Environmental studies students might make take up the job on another Saturday.
'The most exciting thing, in a lot of ways, is that REthink Wisconsin has gone to director of guest services John Finkler and has met with Senior Associate Athletic Director Vince Sweeney and sat down and said, 'What can we do' How can we help',' said professor Kloppenburg. 'This is the approach we are trying to take, 'how can we help' How can we facilitate' '
'Right now there is no recycling being done at Camp Randall or the Kohl Center. The athletic department would certainly like to, the question is how' How could it be done efficiently and effectively'
'We are working towards that now with the athletic department. It is really exciting to have an initiative campus-wide that brings together these apparently disparate elements ' the Jocks and the Greens and the Greeks.'
John Finkler says the process is still in the preliminary stage, but periodic meetings are moving the idea along.
'We've had several meetings with REthink Wisconsin and we've involved campus and athletic department facilities director Barry Fox. I know Vince Sweeney is very, very interested. It is kind of just a matter of putting all the pieces together. I sense the department is very committed in doing something and now it is a matter of working out all the details.
'The other piece of the puzzle was George Dreckmann with the City of Madison. We got him and Daniel Einstein from campus in the loop. We had them come to the Michigan football game last year to see how trash disposal works on game day and they had some ideas from that. It has been kind of ongoing. We would like to do something, but we haven 't gotten to the point that this is a finished product yet.
'From our vantage point, the fact that student-athletes are involved is great. We've had a couple of meetings with them and they've just been tremendous. They seem like they would be in it for the long haul. They are very committed to working with us.'
The athletic department made an attempt at recycling during its events in the early 1990s, but problems with contamination contributed to the efforts ultimately failing. This time, helped along by a couple of persistent student-athletes, input from knowledgeable people and a little committment, the odds for success appear greater.
'Wouldn't it be cool to have a couple of the football heroes, or hockey or basketball or crew or whatever up on the video board speaking to the effort, ' said Kloppenburg. 'I don't think it would take much to get the culture established. Madisonians are pretty aware. I think this is a real positive area in which the athletic department could take a real leadership role here in moving the campus in a greener direction.'
