Bear that in mind when you’re reading this about NC State’s “environmental czar” going through trashcans outside student dining halls looking for recyclables. “It’s a new position at a university finally joining the ranks of environmentally forward-thinking campuses,” which apparently involves aping old Virginia Slims slogans.

“We’re looking at a journey, not a destination, so we can look back and say, ‘We’ve really come a long way,’ ” Nielsen said.

Besides, “[o]ther universities, including UNC-Chapel Hill, have full-time staffers devoted to pushing Earth-friendly practices.” (Nice editorialization within a news story, by the way ? and can you technically be friendly with an inanimate object? Are there, say, brick-friendly or kumquat-friendly practices?)