Green student group wants you

A “green” student group that has already made a major campus impact—to the tune of $360,000—is looking for new members.

The Environmental Action Club, which pushed through the student-funded campus Green Fee, is the perfect place for students to lend their green ideas and “muscle” to the U of M’s overall sustainability efforts.

“If a student is interested in environmental issues and making a positive impact when it comes to a more green campus, then the Environmental Action Club is the place to be,” said EAC president Jennifer Hooper. “You can share your ideas, have a voice in our green efforts and take part in our projects.”

The EAC initiated and was instrumental in pushing through the Sustainable Campus Green Fee, which provides $360,000 per year to campus green projects. (Learn more about the Green Fee and the 2010-11 projects being funded by it here: http://www.memphis.edu/bluegoesgreen/greenfee.php)

“Myself and others initiated the Green Fee because we wanted the U of M to be more environmentally sustainable and to be an environmental leader for the Memphis community,” said former EAC president Erica Christensen. Christensen, Ben Edwards and other EAC student-members co-founded the group in 2007 and camped out on the Alumni Mall near the University Center to draw awareness to their efforts to get the fee passed.

Hooper said current EAC members sit on the Green Fee committee and have a voice in what is funded by the fee.

The EAC has several projects planned for this fall, including a “clean-up campus” day; participation in Grow Memphis, which is a community gardening effort aimed at low-income neighborhoods in Memphis; recycling efforts; and other initiatives.

The EAC has bi-weekly meetings in the Senate Chamber of the University Center.

“The world, we are supposed to be taking care of it,” said Hooper. “We need to be responsible and leave it in better shape for those who come after us.”