Residence Life gets into Go Green Week from ‘soap to nuts’

It’s a palm-sized linen bag and inside sit four waxy, hollow nutshells. These husks are inedible and scentless, the empty rinds of Sapindus trees.

You might think to throw them away, but stay your hand from that trash receptacle. Rather, toss the sachet into your washing machine, because these are soap nuts, and today, in the student center, Chadron State’s Resident Life Association is handing them out to students.

As an initiative for CSC’s Go Green Week, RLA has papered the Student Center with 3-D posters that list ways for students to save electricity and money.

Aluminum flowers adorn the recycled cardboard sign, which were clipped from old drink cans.

In addition to this information propagation, resident directors will be in the Student Center today from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., handing out Go Green gadgets.

These include reusable shopping bags, which students can fold into pocket-sized balls, and take shopping, to save on wasted plastic bags.

The soap nuts were the brainchild of Manager of Resident Life Programs Tami Fosher, who makes her own laundry detergent.

“Originally, I wanted to do a soap-making workshop,” Fosher said, “but that requires large cooking facilities which aren’t available.”

RLA’s past incarnations of Go Green Week, which has run annually for four years, have given students USB drives (to save paper), reusable coffee mugs, and recycled pens.

Two years ago, RLA also gave away shopping bags, but they didn’t fold well, and were inconvenient for students to carry.

“Students don’t follow green guidelines because it’s not quite as easy for them,” said Fosher. This break from convenience prevents students from preforming simple tasks that can make a difference.

For students living in the residence halls, RLA suggests taking shorter showers, washing clothes in cold water, and turning off lights.

Fosher said that unfortunately, students are directly accountable for their water and electricity in the dorms, so they don’t see the direct benefits.

“They don’t see the bills,” Fosher said. “If it costs the college too much, then we have to raise the costs for students down the road. They (current students) just don’t see the effects in their lifetime.”

Such could be said in general about environmental impacts.

“We just want to see what small part we can play in this big picture,” Fosher said.

So consider following RLA’s advice next time you do laundry, and don’t forget the soap nuts.