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TAMUCC students go green on campus

Posted at 8:56 AM, Dec 03, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-03 19:26:22-05

 

A group of students at Texas A&M Corpus Christi have dedicated time to making their campus a little greener. Those students are part of The Islander Green Team, a student-led environmental group.

About 100 students, wanting to be good stewards of their environment, are part of the Islander Green Team.

“Here on campus, you can walk right out to the beach and see trash on the beach,” said Devika Tijerena, a TAMUCC senior and president of the team.

The mission of the organization is to inform others about environmental issues on campus, and to promote environmentally-friendly practices.

“We want to increase student involvement in our green initiatives,” Islander Green Team member Lauren Snyder said.

The team, founded about three years ago, attempts to lead by example every day. Every morning, students pick up buckets of food scraps from on-campus dining locations.

“We are taking in fruits and veggies that would have otherwise been sent to the landfill,” Islander Green Team member and TAMUCC junior Sofia Gonzalez said.

Those scraps are then composted, a green initiative that used food waste to make fertilizer. Students use the fertilizer to grow plants in the campus’ community garden.

“Composting is a feasible thing to do,” Gonzalez said. “You could easily support a garden, grow your own fruits and vegetables for the green effort.”

The Islander Green Team also set up an aquaponics system. The system allows them to reuse water from fish tanks to grow plants.

Plus, a zero waste committee makes waste audits. Throughout the semester, students sift through campus trash cans to to identify waste habits and what can be recycled.

The team hopes they can make an environmental-friendly impact on their campus and inspire other students to go green.

“If they start recycling and composting here, we’re building habits now that they’ll [students] take with them after they leave,” Tijerena said.

The Islander Green Team also has a water quality committee. Students go to Oso Bay and Corpus Christi Bay to test the water quality.

The Islander Green Team is also part of other projects on and near campus. For more information about the Islander Green Team’s efforts, click here.