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Paper or plastic?
In 2009, the increasingly popular answer is, "neither."
By now, most students have grown accustomed to the "going green" phenomena, which has been talked about more and more over the past few years.
When New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman spoke at Miami University in fall 2008, the author of Hot, Flat and Crowded argued the U.S. isn't really experiencing the green revolution the media keeps talking about. Instead, he labeled the current situation as a "green party" - too much talking and too little action.
While the debate over the urgency to go green continues, it makes sense that this "green party" has spread to college campuses. Miami is no exception, and should be recognized for its attempts to go green.
So far, the most visible example of a green campus this year has been the emergence of Miami's new red reusable shopping bags for use at various on campus market locations - Market Street At MacCracken, Greystone, Eastside, Spring Street, Oak Street and Scoreboard, respectively.
That's nice. But the real question is, will they take off?
Ron Blassingame, a Miami senior and Spring Street Market employee, thinks so.
"A lot of people have been buying them," he said. "I've sold five in three and a half hours."
Priced at just $2, students can purchase the new red reusable bag with most meal plans. After introducing the 100 percent natural cotton ECO bags - which can stretch to hold up to 40 lbs. - for the first time last semester, the new rectangular bags not only look more like the reusable bags stores like Kroger and Wal-Mart have been offering for some time, they're also cheaper than the ECO bag and retain their rectangular shape thanks to a removable insert in the bottom of the bag.
According to Blassingame, when he came back to work at the start of fall semester, the university pressed on campus employees to sell the reusable rather than give away plastic bags - those awful, tacky, white ones with an indiscernible blue and orange design completed unrelated to Miami.
Still, despite the university's push to spread the use of the new red reusable bags, "I would still buy the (ECO) one from last year," Blassingame said.
Miami junior Sarah Marie Simpson, junior, a Market Street At MacCracken employee, admitted she still had yet to purchase either reusable bag.
"We just got (the red bags) at the beginning of the school year," Simpson said. "They're cheap and they save a lot of plastic. We go through hundreds of plastic bags a day."
Although she hasn't yet purchased the new $2 bag, unlike Blassingame, Simpson said she prefers it to the ECO bag, which is still available for purchase at most on campus markets.
"The appeal of last year's bag was that they could stretch," she said. "But you really couldn't put that much stuff in them because you'd end up with a big ball on your side."
But back to the new reusable bags. One issue surrounding their continued use is students' tendency to forget to bring them when they go shopping, or to not carry them around when they're on campus.
"A lot of people come to the market on their way to class without necessarily having a (reusable) bag on them," Simpson said.
Miami junior Erica Melko, also an employee at Market Street At MacCracken, has noticed the same trend.
"A lot of people I know forget to bring (the reusable bags) in," Melko said. "It's just about getting into the habit of remembering them."
A third Market Street at MacCracken employee, Miami first-year Kaitlin Boyd, agreed that despite steady sales of reusable bags, "They're not 'it' yet."
One way to ensure continued use of the reusable bags would be to follow Kroger's lead and offer a discount for students' market purchases if they remember to bring their reusable bag.
According to an Oxford Kroger customer service representative, they give three cents back per each bag customers bring in.
Oxford Kroger store manager Josh Timler has watched the sale of reusable bags remain steady. The discount they offer doesn't hurt either.
"I think ever since (Kroger) came out with the bag, the discount has been there," Timler said. We also offer the discount on the plastic bags, if (customers) bring those in it's still three cents off per bag. As far as sales, we don't have any numbers, but the reusable bags themselves have sold pretty well."
Just two weeks into the semester, Simpson said she has had multiple students ask her about receiving a discount to reward them for going green (shocker: Miami doesn't offer one).
But with or without a discount, hopefully the majority of Miami students will eventually embrace going green and consistently shop with a reusable bag.
For students who don't see what the big deal about plastic bags is, check out http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=2.
