Taking a look around campus this semester, it would seem as if University Park has become a more environmentally friendly place.

Per the request of student and faculty smokers, Office of Physical Plant has seen to it that a greater number of cigarette receptacles have been placed across campus. And although they may not have been set up in the most convenient or the most travelled locations on campus, OPP's intent is just one more step in making Penn State a cleaner place.

However, the campus' sidewalks are still laden with the remains of cigarettes, and students still complain about the lack of places to extinguish or dispose of their cigarettes.

The halls of Willard building, as well as various other buildings on campus, are filled with blue and white recycling bins — more so than with hall trash cans — where students and staff members are supposed to be able to deposit glass bottles, paper and aluminum cans, instead of tossing them into the unlabeled trash cans.

But, classrooms across campus are still left dirty when classes let out, because students mindlessly leave their bottles and cans under chairs and desks.

Members of the Penn State community need to become more aware of their environment. The University Park campus is truly beautiful when you take the time to look at it, but when the streets and sidewalks are littered with cigarette butts and the classrooms are filled with dirty soda bottles, the quaint charm of Happy Valley gets stripped away.

As students, staff, and faculty members, we need to realize that the university can only afford to do so much to help us keep our environment clean. However, it is mostly up to us to make sure that the environment is kept that clean.

While OPP can add more cigarette receptacles and garbage cans to campus, it is our job to make use of them as as they were meant to be used. It doesn't take too much more effort to pick up that bottle and recycle it or to walk a few extra yards to extinguish your cigarette in the proper place.

It's time to stop depending on the administration to keep our university clean. Taking steps ourselves to make sure the university's measures work is the best we can do to stay environmentally aware.