The Green Team is an example of the Ithaca College Environmental Society at work. Staying behind after football, soccer or other large games, a group of students tackle the task of picking up all the litter from the stadium.

Last year was the Green Team's first year. Senior Laura Cohen, president of ICES, said that the idea for the Green Team came in an effort to begin student involvement in environmental clean-up.

Since then, this subcommittee of ICES has appeared after the games in order to alleviate the work load of the maintenance people and protect the environment.

After every inch of the stadium is clean, cans are separated from the trash and taken to the K&H Redemption Center downtown. Cohen said the Green Team's work benefits the club too. ICES gets to keep all the money from recycling the aluminum cans.

Sophomore Craig Fasullo, a member of the Green Team, said the Green Team volunteers will usually spend one-and-a-half to two hours picking up forgotten trash and recyclables.

"It's one of those things you'd think would be kind of nasty, but if you actually do it, it's really a lot of fun," he said.

Last year, Fasullo even found a "Duran Duran" tape. Finding things is "the best part," he said.

Sophomore Patrick Pressley was originally drawn to the club last year by a poster that advertised nature walks. Now he shows enthusiasm even for the tools the Green Team uses.

"We've got these cool pokers," he said.

Pressley enjoys helping the Green Team.

"[It's] fun," he said. "We just pick up trash. Everyone leaves and we're the only ones there."

ICES' influence extends beyond the Green Team as well. The club promotes "education and activism and trying to affect policy on campus," Cohen said. Last year the club was instrumental in efforts to preserve land instead of creating excessive parking lots.

Members of ICES are currently in the process of attempting to bring a recyclable can redemption center to Ithaca's campus. It will be located either behind the Towers or at the bookstore's buyback window.

Cohen said that a campus redemption center would allow students without transportation to make money from their aluminum cans.

The redemption center would provide students with a way of actively participating in recycling efforts. Cohen is optimistic that the school will allow a redemption center because so far the college has been quite receptive to beneficial changes.

Recycled paper fills the copy machines in the bookstore. ICES hopes to effect change in the food division as well by introducing organic foods and coffees, said Cohen.

ICES also examines off-campus issues such as lake source cooling. Currently a major concern, Fasullo said lake source cooling impacts the entire community.

"Something as big as [lake source cooling] going on over there can just slip under your nose," Fasullo said.

He said students voice opposition to attempts to harm the environment through letter writing and petitions.

"[We are] doing our best to educate people about their lifestyle and how they can be more environmental," Cohen said.

While always keeping in mind the belief that the current generation holds responsibility for seven generations to come, the members of ICES work to promote environmental awareness on the campus, Cohen said.

ICES holds forums to discuss current concerns. The club sponsors environmental poetry nights and an environmental music night is planned for February.

"[Both are necessary to] remind ourselves about the earth in ways other than activism.

"I feel great when people are receptive," Cohen said. She and other ICES members staff a table in the campus center every week on either Wednesday or Thursday. The literature and people at the table act as sources for information and a chance to obtain answers to environmental questions.

All of the topics ICES members discuss at their 8 p.m. meetings on Tuesdays in Muller Chapel pertain to environmental issues like water and food purity that effect every person of the campus and community. A main goal of each member is to promote the "3 R's" (reduce, reuse, recycle) which focus on minimizing consumption to decrease waste.

Cohen urges students to recognize individual impact on the earth.

"When you start to realize how much you use throughout one day you start to realize how much affect the human race has on the planet."