Solutions to MSU College Students and Administrators:
We urge MSU Administration involved in environmental
planning to help cut back on air pollution in the following ways:
- Implement Free MSU Public Transportation Through CATA
- While MSU does offer discounted rates, several other college campuses already offer free public transportation to their students, and there is no reason MSU can’t join them. We have a tremendous resource in CATA, and the $100/yr price tag on a student bus pass is inhibiting for many students who end up in their cars as a result. Exhaust from cars is the leading cause of air pollution in the United States according to the EPA and MSU should be doing everything in their power to combat this, shifting tens of thousands of students out of their cars and onto buses.
- Install a Tobacco Free Campus
- Cigarettes are also a leading cause of air pollution, considering cigarettes release ten times the amount of air pollutant matter than car engines. A tobacco free campus will deter many smokers from going the extra mile to smoke, thus cutting down on the amount of pollution. We urge administrators to implement a tobacco free campus and we implore our fellow students to go tobacco free themselves.
- Improve the Clean Air Act
- The Clean Air Act has been gutted since the 1970s and has lost its once important status as a piece of legislation; if improved it could prevent at least 230,000 deaths and save $2 trillion dollars annually by 2020. We advise MSU students to join the Spartan Sierra Club and we recommend that the club with its new influx of members contact their local legislative representative and petition them to re-introduce the Clean Air Act to Congress.
