Green Appal Program Certifies Nearly 100 Rooms Since September
In collaboration with Appalachian Housing and Residence Life, the Office of Sustainability relaunched the Green Appal residence hall certification program in fall of this year. The program’s aim is to encourage students to consider their commitment to sustainability as soon as they become a part of the Appalachian community, and make conscious decisions to reduce their carbon and waste footprint while living on campus.
Envisioned as the student parallel to the popular Green Workplace Certification, Green Appal has proved to be a success with Appalachian students living in any of the 20 campus residence halls. In just three months, 98 rooms have been certified.
“This is a great indicator that our students are taking more personal accountability for their impact on our planet. We often get discouraged because we see sustainability as this huge, daunting issue that we're trying to fix but it really does start with our everyday actions,” says Rebecca Walton, the Office of Sustainability’s Outreach Coordinator.
“The Green Appal program empowers and celebrates those students that have committed to living their life on this campus in a thoughtful and responsible way.”
Like the Green Workplace Certification, Green Appal is a voluntary program where students access online resources, such as the Sustainability website, Sustain mobile app, and Green Living Guide, then fill out an online questionnaire. Each residence hall has a student-elected Eco-Rep, tasked with helping fellow students make more sustainable decisions, including providing guidance and answering questions about the Green Appal certification.
To learn more about this and other sustainability initiatives, please visit sustain.appstate.edu.
