Experiencing Green Week at Northeastern provided an opportunity to check out the Green Cycle Group and see what they are doing on the environmental front. The Green Cycle Group is a student club that is environmentally oriented.
This is not to be confused with the Green Fee Committee, which is made up of SGA representatives, faculty, staff, and other students, and allocates funds from the $3 Green Fee on tuition for environmentally friendly improvements on the campus. The Green Cycle Group is NEIU’s main student club related to ‘Green’ or environmental issues. Their most notable achievement to date has been their 2007 proposal to collect the $3 a year per student, which was passed and is currently managed by the Green Fee Committee. The Green Cycle Group has also influenced administrators to set computer lab printers to the double-sided default and to use recycled paper. These are among many of the activities the Green Cycle Group rallies for on campus.
They have also conducted various Green workshops on campus. They have run the last several Earth Day Fairs at NEIU. They have representatives on the Green Fee Committee, have volunteered for various flier and fundraising expeditions, and continue to coordinate with other area and statewide student Green organizations.
Their focus is “Promoting Change for a Better World,” as the slogan on their website reads. During NEIU’s Green week, the club had an information table in the Village Square where they organized a fundraising bake sale and had various flyers, pamphlets and other literature to share. The club is also actively working with their NEIU staff liaison to get more trees planted on campus as well as furthering the effort to save more electricity.
The Green Fee Committee recently funded a pilot program of about two dozen motion-sensor light switches and the Green Cycle Group is monitoring this effort as well as working up a series of flyers to educate students to turn off the lights when they leave a classroom.
Other ideas currently in the works include urging the administration to get a CTA ticket machine installed, hosting a one-time winter farmers’ market at NEIU, entering the Green Promotional contest and planning ahead for the many post-Green Week events scheduled for the next seven months. They may also send several representatives to Springfield for the November legislative vote on the Illinois Clean Cars Act. The bill is calling for more emissions controls on vehicles and an average of 39.6 mpg on all new cars.
The Green Cycle Group is always looking for new members. They need people willing to volunteer for a variety of tasks including passing out fliers, educating people on environmental issues, or selling cookies at a fundraising information booth. They need smart and creative people who can come up with ideas for flier and poster design, as well as event planners and idea-minded people to contribute at the meetings. They need people for community and political outreach, both here at home as well as in Springfield. Anyone interested in volunteering or getting more information can check their website at www.neiu.edu/~gcgroup.