Why did I come to Iowa State? I desperately wanted to have a chance to frolic in the massive amounts of litter and trash around campus. Forget the thousands of dollars I’m spending on my so-called education. I just love the sight of papers and plastic bags gently blowing in the wind across the freshly mowed grass, cans scattered everywhere and cigarette butts lining sidewalks.

Littering is simply the lowest form of laziness in existence. Iowa State does a fine job of providing trash cans; sometimes it seems like there’s one every ten feet. Littering is bad for the environment, costs money and is just plain ugly.

All forms of littering bother me, but the cigarette butt thing is my pet peeve. I went outside the main door of my dorm and counted 330 butts on the ground, and I didn’t even check the side doors. Really, how hard is it to stick the butt in a receptacle as you walk back into the building? We have one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation, yet we taint its beauty daily with our trash.

My request is simple: Don’t litter. It’s so easy, but makes an incredible difference.

Jessica Gunzburger

Sophomore

Biology and Secondary Education