When it comes to campus cleanliness, we’re all pros at the blame game. All the while, we know whose fault it truly is.

The Santa Barbara community is educated, involved, aware and active in issues dealing with environmental sensitivity. You don’t have to look farther than your own block to see a community that cares.

That’s just the way things are in Santa Barbara.

So when out-of-town, out-of-state and out-of-country students come to City College and blatantly disregard these ideals, don’t point fingers. Educate your unwitting peers, and lead by example.

On campus, cleanliness problems exist prima facie.

Gulls snatching trash from the lawns and parking lots, dirty cafeteria plates left on benches and patio tables, cigarette butts lining our gardens – these signs are hard to miss.

As much as you’d like to think the custodial staff is to blame, they’re not. Custodians are suffering from smaller personnel due to budget cuts.

And really, it’s not their job to clean up after you like your parents did when you were in a highchair.

It is the responsibility of students to take care of this campus.

City College hasn’t left you blind. The Zero-Waste Awareness program, Projects in Sustainability class, and Phi Theta Kappa have implemented the reuse, reduce, recycle motto all around campus.

There are recycling bins next to trashcans in classrooms and offices.

Use them.

There are the ashtrays for your cigarette butts – which is not the Earth and Biological Sciences garden, if you were confused. Red benches with the bold “Smoking Permitted Within Ten Feet of This Sign” are in plain English, yet seemingly never understood.

There are composting bins in the cafeteria to help you organize your waste, so things that can be reused don’t end up in landfills. And if you don’t know the difference between what you can and can’t recycle, look a foot above the bin and read the illustrated diagram. It’s hard to miss.

The smallest compliances to campus standards can make a huge difference.

It’s our responsibility as students, as individuals and as new members of this community, to learn and live within these ethics.

The out-of-towners should take some pride in the beachside community they now call their own. It’s time to familiarize ourselves with the 805 example.

So take that extra step – to the recycling, compost bin or ashtray.