By Donna McAleer
In the dark of night, Tara Pike worked her way through the trash dumpster outside of the Humanities Building, carefully combing through the garbage.
She wasn't looking for garage sale material or for something she'd lost. She was looking for hard facts, the ones that would help convince university officials that they needed to take a more aggressive stance on campus recycling.
Rolling up her sleeves to pick through the university's trash was just one of
the ways Pike, now a UNLV alumna, was willing to prove her dedication
to environmental issues during her undergraduate years on campus.
As the founder of SCOPE (Students Conscious of Protecting the Environment), Pike was invited to serve on UNLV's Waste Reduction and Recycling Committee during her sophomore year.
As the committee - composed mostly of administrators - considered ways to consolidate scattered campus recycling programs and to improve the efficiency of the campus sprinkling system, discussion inevitably turned to budget realities and lack of funds to implement new ideas. But Pike was undeterred; committee members came to view her as the voice of both idealism and commitment.
"I would describe Tara as undaunted," says Dennis Swartzell, director of UNLV's Landscape, Grounds, and Arboretum. "She brings that youthful energy, that student vibrance . . . that feeling that most anything can be accomplished."
When one committee member pointed out that they really didn't know how much recyclable material was being discarded, Pike, along with James Deacon, the director of UNLV's environmental studies program, volunteered to find out.
That's when she and other members of SCOPE got inside the dumpsters. For several weeks they conducted their waste-stream study at selected locations on campus from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
"We'd climb into the dumpster, take out the garbage, then separate, weigh, and classify it," Pike recalls. "We found we were recovering five to six pounds of aluminum per dumpster at the time."
That study became the basis for Pike's undergraduate thesis, titled "An Improved Recycling Program for UNLV," which she completed as a requirement for her bachelor of science degree in environmental studies in 1994.
"Tara's thesis was the starting point for many projects that have had an impact at UNLV and the community beyond," says Deacon, her thesis adviser. "It's been a delight to watch her develop as a person and as a professional. Tara was effective when she first got here, but she's improved dramatically as a team member and facilitator, someone who can make other people enthusiastic."
Pike's dedication and her increased understanding of complex situations eventually paid off.
"At first I was very frustrated trying to get things done," Pike acknowledges. "Everything seemed to be very slow, very bureaucratic. My attitude was 'Let's just do it.' I was young and idealistic. Now, I know there are no easy answers. You have to be creative."
Pike and SCOPE members demonstrated some of that creativity during a campaign for passage of a student recycling fee. While researching her thesis, Pike discovered that at the University of Colorado, Boulder, students pay a fee to fund recycling projects. She liked the idea and wanted to try it here.
Of course, adding a student fee, even a modest one like $1 per semester, isn't an easy sell when tuition and other costs are on the rise. But again, Pike wasn't deterred. SCOPE approached student government officials, who decided to present the fee proposal to students on a ballot in spring 1994.
Rather than clutter the campus with paper brochures that would tout their cause but ultimately add to the waste disposal problem, SCOPE members got hundreds of plain sugar cookies and decorated them with the recycling symbol in icing.
"Would you like an edible flier, a.k.a. a cookie?" Pike asked when passing out the environmentally correct treats. She noticed that students were suddenly more receptive to the message when they saw a tangible benefit of the recycling philosophy.
The new fee won student support. Then in February 1995, the Board of Regents gave final approval to implement the $1 fee (per student per semester), which will be used to fund recycling education efforts and a position for a campus recycling coordinator.
"Tara's been a driving force here," says Deacon, pointing to other programs in which she has played a significant role, such as the campus Desert Landscape Project.
The goal of the project is to convert 18 acres of grass on campus to desert landscaping. Once the grass is removed and drought tolerant plants and new water delivery systems are in place, it's estimated that campus landscaping water usage could be cut by some 30 percent. In 1994 water-cost dollars, that's $150,000 saved. There will also be another $53,000 in estimated savings through lower maintenance costs (no mowing, no sprinkler heads, no water damage to stucco) in those areas.
So far, an area by the Lilly Fong Geoscience Building has been converted with money for plants and supplies raised by SCOPE through T-shirt sales. Donors, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Geology Honor Society, the Ad Club, and Kinkos, have already committed to funding other conversions to desert landscaping. Pike hopes to have 12 areas completed by December.
Since the grass will remain green in other parts of campus, Pike has also been busy thinking of ways to recycle green waste, such as grass clippings and tree chips. She is trying to establish a composting demonstration garden on campus.
For the last several years, Pike has also helped organize UNLV's Earth Day, an event that seeks to increase awareness of environmental issues. In a change from past celebrations, Earth Day was held on a Friday this year at Pike's urging, allowing many school children to visit the exhibits and enjoy the activities on field trips.
Her work as a volunteer and her major in environmental studies have combined nicely to give her an excellent academic foundation enhanced by real-world experience. Asked how she has managed to balance her school work with all of her other activities, Pike laughs.
"I've never had much trouble. It all usually meshes, except for fitting in sleep and a social life."
Since her 1994 graduation, Pike has worked at UNLV in the Office of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability as a coordinator. This fall, she will go to work for AmeriCorps, a domestic version of the Peace Corps. She helped write the proposal for the Southern Nevada Environmental Corps, a division of AmeriCorps that she will help lead. The organization will inform the community about recycling, desert landscaping and restoration, and water and energy efficiency. It will also work hard to energize and hold community interest.
Pike is pleased that her AmeriCorps service will help pay off her student loans while she is able to continue working for a cause she believes in deeply. "I love organizing people, events. I like creating something and watching it happen, getting things started," Pike says.
And UNLV has been a valuable proving ground for her abundant talent for doing so.
"The joke at Valley High School was that UNLV stood for the University of Never Leaving Vegas. But coming to UNLV was the best decision I ever made," says Pike, who credits the supportive atmosphere and personal attention available in the environmental studies program for her accomplishments.
In exchange, she has left the environment at her alma mater a little better than when she arrived. In a way, it's just another form of recycling, only in human terms.
