Student environmental activists gathered yesterday in various areas on campus to protest Hodgdon Good-to-Go's use of plastic bags and to garner student support for the effort to abolish them.
"We're trying to ban plastic bags at Tufts; they're found in too much abundance on this campus," junior Alisha Sett said.
The students, part of a Tufts class called Environmental Justice and U.S. Literature, are looking to lead a charge to reduce plastic waste on campus.
The students held their protests on the Tisch Library patio, on the Mayer Campus Center upper patio, and in the Dewick-MacPhie and Carmichael Dining Halls, using displays consisting of posters and plastic bags to grab attention.
The students also collected signatures on a petition asking the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate to assist in banning plastic bags from Hodgdon Good-to-Go, Sett said.
"We're starting with Hodgdon, a place people go all the time," Sett said. "People pick up a Gatorade, throw it in a plastic bag and walk out — there's no need for it, no point."
Freshman Rahiel Tazele signed the petition outside of Tisch.
"We don't need them; it's an unnecessary waste of a plastic bag," she said. "I can just carry the food myself."
The class hopes to educate students and also encourage behavioral change, Sett said.
"We're first educating people that they're using all these plastic bags … where they [are] going and who are they're affecting. It's not only people far away … but also very close to here," Sett said. "It's educating people that Tufts has a big impact on a daily basis."
Sett said she hopes the petition will encourage the Senate to write a resolution in support of their cause, she said. The class has already collaborated with students who have lobbied the Senate on the use of plastic bags on campus.
"We're partnering with people who have been working with the [TCU] Senate on this for a long time to help spur momentum," Sett said, adding that she considered today's effort a success.
"We've had a lot of people come up and sign the petition," she said.
The movement represents the final class project of the students in the Environmental Justice and U.S. Literature course taught by Professor of English Elizabeth Ammons. Students are given free reign to choose the focus of the project, Ammons said.
"The class ends with student-conceived and -organized social action. The goal is taking a stand for environmental justice," Ammons said. "The project involves deciding what they focus on and then organizing and taking the message to other people."
The course combines environmental studies, English literature, peace and justice studies and women's studies, Ammons said. Students study the disproportional impact of environmental hazards on poor communities and people of color, she explained.
"It's the concept and worldwide movement for equity for all people in terms of both environmental benefits and hazards," Ammons said.
The fact that specific communities are experiencing all the negative impacts is unjust, Ammons said. Costs and benefits should be shared equally by everyone, she said.
"It is unjust that these groups are bearing the burden of environmental damage in the form of environmental damage, toxins and food scarcity," Ammons said. "These are huge problems created by human beings, so human beings have to be the ones to bring about positive change."
Laina Piera contributed reporting to this article.