Yuba College Takes Steps For A “Green Future”

The faculty and staff of Yuba Community College have formed a project team concerning the state and future of our planet. Green Future involves many aspects concerning how to preserve our planet and the natural resources we use from it. Professors Sandra Graciano, Susan Ramones and Betsy Julian, along with other professors, have started taking the first steps to introducing this universal change. Professor Graciano has focused on transportation and how to work out getting students bus passes, while Professor Ramones is on a mission to find ways to bring the topic up in other classes. Professor Julian’s primary focus is the environment as a whole.

The idea behind Green Future is sustainability. The goal is to promote a certain kind of lifestyle; a comfortable one. It has been said on more than one occasion that we are burning oil too fast and using water rather quickly. Professor Julian’s definition of “going green” or being a part of the “Green Future” is to think about how it is going to have an effect on the Earth – to think about transportation, how much waste is being produced and how much energy is being used. Although every individual’s definition varies, each have one thing in common, which is to conserve energy. There are going to be some exceptions for different people. One of the main questions that should be asked, Julian says is, “How important is the decision I’m making?”

The main goal of Green Future is get the College, students, and community involved; to incorporate healthy, more abundant lifestyles. They want to encourage students to ask questions about how their lifestyles or the lifestyles of those around them play a part in helping our Earth. Bringing it up in class, the College setting examples, using light bulbs that are more efficient and putting in more low-water plants are just some of the ways we, as individuals, can begin to make a difference.

“The planet is going to be fine, it’s the human civilization we are trying to save,” says Julian, who is also a geologist. “We are not going to tell you how to be green, or even that you have to be green, but we are asking to you to think about it.”