The We Mean Green Fund is your on-campus resource for making a green change within your department! The student-majority We Mean Green Fund Committee funds community-driven campus environmental sustainability projects that make our institution even greener. Your department can utilize the We Mean Green Fund by proposing an eco-friendly project that will help establish sustainable practices in your every-day operations as well as your department’s annual events. The We Mean Green Fund Committee wants to challenge you to think about how your department and its programs can be more eco-conscious. Need a little “greenspiration?” One department on campus is currently developing a project proposal.

Zoe Bentil, a graduate assistant in UNT’s Off-Campus Student Services department, is making the move to increase her department’s environmental awareness by improving their daily practices to emphasize sustainability education and reduce their waste production. Zoe says, “Each little thing we do to better our habits counts… For this reason, I’m developing a proposal through the We Mean Green Fund to provide more eco-conscious options from start to finish for the programs and events within our office.” She aims to make campus events such as the Housing Fair, Family Fun Night, and Coffee and Convos more environmentally friendly by selecting event products and supplies more intentionally to reduce the department’s carbon footprint in addition to implementing education that empowers students to make better choices as environmental stewards. 

Already have an idea to go green at UNT? You can fill out a pre-proposal form to initiate the official We Mean Green Fund project proposal process. Final proposals are due December 6, 2019.

Looking for ways to ease into green habits in your office? We challenge you to step into environmental sustainability today to prove your office truly “Means Green” with these helpful tips:  

• Create monthly green challenges in the office. Team challenges can be a fun way to combine friendly competition and going green.
• Last out, lights out! Turning off electronics and lighting when no one is in the office can save a lot of energy!
• Designate a sustainability captain. Designating a sustainability captain within the office can keep the environmental interests of the office at the forefront of the department’s goals. This person could order environmentally-friendly office supplies and include sustainability issues in meeting agendas.
• BYORB! Bringing your own reusable water bottle or coffee mug to campus will reduce the amount of waste your department produces. 

With the We Mean Green Fund project proposal due date approaching about a month from now, we encourage you to collaborate with others and be creative! 

Written by Delany Baum, We Mean Green graduate assistant and environmental science graduate student.