Why does the professor discuss the easels in the painting studio?

Listen to a conversation between a student and his studio art professor.
S: Professor Jones, good morning! Could I talk with you for a minute?
P: Sure, Marty. What’s up? Is it about the class assignment this week?
S: No, no... I’m almost done... really enjoying it.
P: I’m glad to hear that.
S: So, well, I’ve been talking to some of the other students in our studio art class and we were wondering who to talk to about maybe buying art supplies that are more environmentally safe for the art classes.
P: Well, that’d be me. As the chair of the art department, I do have a say in purchasing decisions, but of course all decisions are voted on by the department faculty. You know... we already buy some eco-friendly products, for example, the easels in your painting studio. They’re made of wood from a South American eucalyptus tree. The trees grow really fast and new trees grow from the stumps of trees that have already been harvested. This is a great renewable resource.
S: I didn’t know that. That’s fantastic! We are also considering drawing paper and pencils. There are some really cool companies that use recycled paper to make drawing paper and some pencil companies that make greener products out of wood from sustainable forests.
P: Well, I can see you’ve done some research. Why don’t you write up a proposal? You can give us a list with the prices of the eco-friendly supplies you’d like the department to consider, and the faculty can compare that to the current cost of supplies at our next meeting.
S: Oh, yeah ... I can appreciate that decisions will also be affected by the cost.
P: Well, yes...that’s partly true. Of course, we have a budget for supplies and most of that money has been spent for this year, but you know, the university has been allocating additional funds for more eco-friendly practices. It’s part of their new ’green campus’ initiative.
S: Yeah, the solar panels were recently installed on the roof of my dorm, and actually I read an article about the initiative in the campus newspaper. There’s a committee... I even heard there’s student representation that help in decision making related to the implementation of the university’s environmentally friendly practices.
P: That’s right! The Green Committee and the solar panels you mentioned are just one of the many things they’ve done. So, I don’t know... given the university’s commitment to becoming more environmentally friendly and the fact that the university does receive partial funding from the state government to support this initiative... you never know!
S: Ok... urn, when do you want the figures?
P: Well, the next meeting of the art department faculty is at the beginning of next month. That gives you about three weeks.
S: That should be enough time. We’ll get to work on it right away. Thanks for your help!