Northeastern Green Fee and more

Hey everyone

Sorry for the delay in posting. The start of school and soccer was a bit much.

I wanted to post about some recent happenings with Northeastern Illinois University’s Green Fee Program. I spoke with Kate Ekman, one of the Green Fee Committee members and Green Cycle Group Treasurer.

The Green Fee was originated by Northeastern University’s Green Cycle Group as a referendum during school elections and later approved by the Board of Trustees at the university. It is used to assist in Northeastern Illinois University’s goal of making the campus and community as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible. The fee consists of an additional three dollars being charged to each student’s fees, each term. Some recent highlights of the program are a purchase of a new battery powered vehicle for the facilities department. Also, new bike racks are in the process of being built around campus to encourage more bike use. The Green Fee Committee has successfully created a foundation where everyone in the community will be able to donate to the fund. This way, staff, faculty, and alumni can also participate in the funding of The Green Fee. Future ideas that have been recently talked about include a solar thermal water heating system for the Athletics facility. The web site for The Green Fee Committee is www.neiu.edu/~greenfee/.

Recent activities of Northeastern’s Green Cycle Group have included creating a new group facebook page, scheduling a bake sale on Oct 1, and participating in the Student Activities Office sponsored Green Week from September 29^th to October 3. Visit the group’s website .

I am very encouraged by the efforts of Northeastern Illinois University and hope we can all continue to raise the level of our own actions and awareness on the issues of sustainability and environmentalism. If you are interested in being involved in any way with the University’s Green Cycle Group or Green Fee Committee at Northeastern Illinois University, please feel free to click on the respective links or email me and I will pass along your interest along.

If you are part of an institution that would like to get some environmental activities or information out, please let me know. I am always looking to get the efforts and information out.

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