Recently, I lived with a couple roommates who are really big fans of the game of Beer Pong. Which is Great with me since I am a long time fan of the game myself. They host at least 3 “king of the table” nights per week with dozens of college-town challengers, and go through hundreds of beers, and beer cans, per week. The game of beer pong is very simple. All you have to do is throw a ping pong from your side of a ping-pong table into one of the cups filled with beer on the opposite side. As soon as your opponent lands a ball into a cup on your side of the table, you have to drink the beer and remove the cup. You win if you make all the balls on your opponent’s side of the table before they make all the cup on your side. There are typically 6 or 10 cups. It’s a great game, and as you can imagine, you go through A Ton of beer.

Kegs can be a hassle for college students. They are difficult to transport and often a deposit is required. So nowadays people who play beer pong often get beer by the cans, in cases or 30 packs. This game requires a lot of beer drinking and it wasn’t until recently that I really considered how many aluminum can were being wasted. It’s something so obvious, but it’s also something easy to over look when having “fun” with friends in college. I’ve always recycled cans, or “tried” to, but I have to say I’ve been pretty guilty of not taking advantage of every opportunity to do so.

So I was amazed to learn my roommate’s Chris and John honestly try to recycle “every single can” used by anyone who plays beer pong at our house. To recycle hundreds of cans per week is not an easy task, and you might be surprised at the kind of effort it takes to maintain that green practice. Even more, how many people do you know that will consistently recycle on other people’s behalf, even when they are not necessarily the ones consuming the most? There are sacrifices that come along with this habit, one being the gigantic pile of cans that accumulate in and around what once looked like a trash bin. Can crunching is definitely a project and a regular activity at our house, but it’s not too bad when you have some good music and someone to keep you company. Chris and John don’t stop with aluminum can recycling. The thing that really impresses me is that they honestly strive to recycle everything they can possibly recycle in the house, and look for ways to go green such as using rechargeable batteries, riding their bikes and carpooling. Our community doesn’t really offer anything that makes it convenient or easy to recycle, but yet Chris and John make it a constant priority to “figure out a way”, regardless of circumstances.

Chris and John are a wonderful example of the kind of attitude, effort, and perseverance it requires to really Live Green. And the best part about it is how people (like me) are really influenced and inspired by their efforts to do the right thing. In reality, it takes substantial efforts to be a green ambassador. This is definitely not a spectator sport (even though beer pong is); you won’t make a difference if you merely “support” the green movement, it is not a spectator sport, you must take action. As an illustration, there’s the obstacle of transporting the aluminum cans to the recycling center. Do we use a gas guzzling truck on the way? And what about the containers we use to transport the aluminum cans? It’s possible we are negating our eco friendly progress if a ton of plastic bags or grocery bags are thrown away in the process. Fuel–Efficient Vehicles, green reusable bags and reusable water bottles are a couple solutions that can improve our chances of truly making a positive impact.

When it comes to the success of the green movement, there is no other way it will prosper than consistent daily action of real people like me and you. To make positive and real changes in this world, it takes leaders like Chris and John who have the courage to actually live Green despite facing a wasteful and often careless society where “wasting” something that can be recycled becomes as common as apple pie. And we’re speaking of Beer Pong, which definitely has become a world-wide trend among the youth of the world, as is beer drinking in general. Young people notice what their friends are doing, and we all know how trendy young people can be. It is absolutely amazing to think about the amount of cans that we can save from being put into a landfill through recycling the cans used in beer pong!