Greetings students of USG!

Earth day is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate mother earth than to learn about all the wonderful  green facts right here on campus!

First off, did you know that Bldg III earned the LEED gold award in 2007? For those of you who aren’t familiar with this certification, it basically means that USG saves a lot of money and resources simply by being green!

So what exactly is green about our campus?

You probably noticed the green roof every day on your way to class, you know it’s a bunch of plants that live there year round, but the green roof is so much more than that. These pretty little plants have a purpose, and that is to keep the building warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It also absorbs the rain water to help fight against rain water runoff into the Chesapeake bay.

If you’ve ever eaten in the cafeteria you probably noticed that rough looking texture of the tables, this special kind of texture is due to the fact that the table surfaces are made from banana leaf fibers. Oh, and the floors leading to the elevators right outside of the cafeteria is not marble, the material is actually made from crushed glass. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe to walk on.

If you live in the library like me, you may be too busy with your nose in the books to notice that the library floors are made of bamboo, and that the tables are made from FSC certified wood, which means that the wood was harvested responsibly.

My personal favorite green accessory are the tire stairs hidden right behind the veterans room on the second floor of building three, the moment you walk in towards the stairs you can smell that lovely rubber tire smell.

The list goes on and on, and I truly feel proud to be apart of such a uniquely green campus. Earth day is coming up on Wed April 22nd, which means that now is the perfect time to get to know how green USG really is and how you can help keep it that way.

Remember, its the small efforts that make a big difference in saving our planet earth.