Mississippi State University is participating in Green Week for the second year in a row. Several organizations gathered for the green Week Organization Fair on the Drill Field Thursday morning.
“October is Campus Sustainability Month and we decided to celebrate that with events during a week, which we call green Week,” MSU Sustainability Coordinator Christine Lashley said.
Campus Sustainability Month is through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
“We’re trying to raise awareness about sustainability on campus,” Lashley said. “Whether it’s encouraging people to use a reusable water bottle, turn off the lights in their residence hall or recycle in their building— it’s just to get people to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.”
“We only have one earth and we want to leave it for the next generation in the best possible condition we can,” Lashley added. “Doing those kinds of things helps us do that.”
The events for the week began on Monday, when MSU opened its Community Garden on campus. The Organization Fair held Thursday highlighted several groups on campus and in the community like Lime, Keep Starkville Beautiful and Students for a Sustainable Campus. Students for a Sustainable Campus Co-president Taylor Saucier said Green Week helps students see all of the different departments that work together to make the campus greener.
“We have a lot of different organizations that work on sustainability,” Saucier said. “We are Students for a Sustainable Campus and we try to promote better recycling on campus, get more recycling bins in all the buildings and try to help students know more about what they can and can’t recycle so things get recycled properly.”
Students for a Sustainable Campus had egg cartons on its table for students to make planters.
“You can have your seeds and let them grow and plant them into a big container when they’re big enough,” Saucier said.
Amy Counterman of Keep Starkville Beautiful also had a booth at the fair.
“I’m here to represent Keep Starkville Beautiful to tell people about the litter prevention and recycling improvements we’re doing in town,” Counterman said.
Over the past year, Keep Starkville Beautiful was part of an effort that saw brand new recycling bins, paid for by grant money, placed in the city’s parks. Counterman said she is starting a recycling education campaign in Starkville in the fall.
“I’m going to be running a recycling education campaign in the elementary schools in town,” Counterman said. “I have these fun coloring books to give the kids and then I’ll be donating books to the classrooms I go into so that they can learn more about recycling at their own pace, and then maybe go home and tell their parents— and if their parents aren’t recycling, maybe they’ll start.”
Counterman said she was also at the fair to let people know about the glass drive she’s organizing on campus in November.
“We’re going to bring a company door-to-door to collect glass to recycle from Starkville,” Counterman said. “It’s a one-time deal to help promote their service and get some glass actually recycled in Starkville.”
“Hopefully they’ll be able to come regularly every month or every other month and people can pay to contract their services to collect glass,” Counterman added.
Friday’s event for green Week is a screening of “The Lorax” on the MSu Drill Field at 8 p.m. The event is free and hosted by the MSU Student Association’s Environmental Cabinet. More information about Green Week can be found on social media @MSUGoesGreen.