Is Riverside City College sustainable or not?

This week, I was assigned to observe how sustainable Riverside City College (RCC) is.  I had observed at RCC the transportation is not that green; although that, some of the students did walk, take the Riverside Transit Agencies (RTA) bus, and even ride their bike to RCC.  I find that most students prefer drive or carpool to RCC.  I have asked some of the International Club members on Saturday about their thought about the RTA bus service on Route 1, and most of them replied that the RTA service sucks because it always late and sometimes over-crowded.  I have also asked the club members that if you have a driving license and a car will you drive to RCC, and they replied possible yes because they are tired of waiting for a RTA bus.  I had some similar experiences with RTA, which RTA was always late and they sometimes will missed a scheduled bus service.  I only ride the RTA for half a year since I transfer from Santa Monica College (SMC) back in 2009.  The reason I stopped ride the RTA bus because it is unreliable and I was always late for my classes during my first semester at RCC that is not fun at all.  Now, I drive to RCC everyday although RTA bus can reach my apartment but I still prefer I drive to RCC because I can better manage my time from at least an hour back and from RCC to about 20 minutes when I drive, which I can used the time I saved to put it on my study time.  When I compare the transportation between RCC and SMC, I saw there is a huge difference because the bus company (Big Blue Bus) at Santa Monica did add some special service on top of their normal service on the Route 7 depends on how much people are at the bus station depart form SMC toward Los Angeles.  I remember that SMC encouraged students to take the Big Blue Bus to school that is one of the green principle they have beside there are a lot of green recycle bins which is very easy to identify.  Overall, I do not believe RCC is that sustainable campus compared to SMC; in order to, for RCC to be sustainably first they educate students how to be sustainable, and for its transportation to and from campus RTA need to improve its service and its frequency.

www.smc.edu

http://bigbluebus.com/
http://riversidetransit.com/home/                                                

Observed the nature

Riverside City College (RCC) campus map http://rcc.edu/about/parking/Pages/Campus-Map.aspx

I was assigned to observe the nature of about 20 minutes. It was difficult to observe the nature within an urban environment. However, I managed to find a quiet place near the Administration Building and the Quadrangle (Quad.) at Riverside City College (RCC). It was a semi-quiet environment in Riverside. During the 20 minutes period, I managed to observe some wildlife and some artificial noises. I saw and heard some birds singing and flying around the campus (the consumers) such as pigeon, hummingbird, crow, a few woodpecker, and a seagull fly by. I also saw a squirrel climbing down and up the tree to search for food. I have noticed there are a few type of trees planted on campus, which are the producers in an ecosystem such as palm and pine trees, Magnolia, and some flower tree. There are also a few brushes near the Administration and the Quad. I have also noticed there are a few human beings (college students) at time, and there are a lot of road noises from the Magnolia Ave. It is hard to focus when a vehicle with a loud exhaust passes by. Other than that issue, I also heard tree leaves rustling by the strong gust of wind, and there is some train sound their horn echoing from a distance. Overall, RCC located at a quiet neighborhood, and I observed most wildlife in this area lives in a community ecology. I was surprised that almost all animal I observed can adopt to this unique ecosystem. I make me think an ecosystem will be keep evolving which is a strong adaptation in this harsh environment.