In the past few semesters, Mercerians have employed a greater effort to create a greener environment. One student, Tianna Ross, is the president of “Greener Mercer,” an organization dedicated to improving the environment. Ross, a senior at Mercer, is a 22-year-old criminal justice major and Spanish minor. She thinks it’s important to have a ‘Greener Mercer’ for one essential reason.

Tianna Ross: I believe God gave us a beautiful campus and we should all take good care of it.

Creating a beautiful campus, however, is not without challenge. Ross pointed out two central challenges: students lacking interest and knowledge and national policy and redtape. So, what can Mercer students do to step up?

Tianna Ross: Mercer students could learn more about recycling. I know some majors require an extra hour, so Mercer students could take environmental classes to fill that hour, learn about policy. Mercer students can cut back on using plastic or reusing their plastic bags. Walking; riding a bike instead of using gas.

Ross gave several tips on how students can recycle.

Tianna Ross: There is a place in between Stetson and the library. All of the resident halls have recycling bins. They’re usually located outside or behind the resident halls. The biggest issues… knowing what to seperate. So things that are plastic can’t have anything in them, and they need to go in the plastic bin and then board needs to go in the cardboard bin. No food needs to go in either one or it contaminates the whole thing.

Ross urges students to get involved.

Tianna Ross: Maybe join Greener Mercer. It’s a student org that has workshops to know how to be more sustainable at home.

For more information about the efforts to create a green environment, you can follow the instagram accounts @mu_greencoalition and @greenermercer. You can also attend Greener Mercer’s upcoming events, one of which is a climate change panel.

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