Climate & Nature...

This Spring Break, I went home to Philadelphia to hang out with my boyfriend (who normally resides in Los Angeles, CA), my family, and friends in D.C. In the past, I have participated in Habitat for Humanity trips to Georgia where ten or so colleges compete to see who can build a house first in one cul-de-sac, and went to Miami to visit my aunt and friends. I've never done the college Spring Break to Aruba, Cancun, or Daytona and freaked out with every other college student. I went to a ten-day Europe trip with my college friends, and a recent cruise to Mexico with my boyfriend and his grandparents, but those are the craziest trips I've ever taken during college. How lame am I?

Many college students went to those typical places for Spring Break, but others did the Habitat trip to Georgia, some went on an Alternative Spring Break to New Orleans to help rebuild, some went to Seattle and even Hawaii to visit their significant others, and others rented houses in places like North Carolina (kind of cold, but cheap!). These kinds of trips obviously utilizes plenty of plane miles; but college students are really starting to catch on to sustainable Spring Breaks. Environmental Spring Break is offered from the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and a student from Dartmouth has even decided to forgo a traditional spring break and went to the arctic for an environmental conference. Schools like Michigan State University offer Alternative Spring Breaks focused on environmental building and stewardship in places like Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and the Everglades. The bonus is that these trips aren't just restricted to Michigan students, anyone can participate. These trips have the ability to unite students and create relationships that last throughout the rest of college. So maybe these trips don't really include drunken debauchery, but at least when someone asks you about your spring break, you'll remember what you did.

I know Spring Break plans are already made for this year, and mine is almost done, but college kids should think about these kinds of things for next year instead of an extravagant vacation to Cancun where the point is to get wasted and laid. It would be more valuable to sustainable thinking and action and ultimately themselves. Hey, if students from the University of Texas are doing it, anyone can!