Some of University of Memphis’ campus organizations will be spreading awareness about green transportation and sustainability during the Tiger Blue Goes Green festival Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m at the Student Plaza.
Tiger Blue Goes Green is an annual event that informs people about sustainability in the environment and on the U of M campus. This year’s theme is alternative transportation, and there will be vendors demonstrating different transportation options.
Amelia Mayahi, U of M sustainability manager, said the festival began as a collaboration between the School of Public Health and the Herff College of Engineering.
“It (Tiger Blue Goes Green) started off just to showcase sustainability in the community and on campus,” Mayahi said. “It encompasses everything sustainable. Anybody in the community, organizations, non-profits or businesses that have any sustainability-related business or vision or whatever it may be can come and showcase and table that.”
Mayahi said the event will also spotlight what campus organizations are doing to make U of M more sustainable as well.
“There will be some Green Fee projects that are going to be showcasing what they are doing with the Green Fee money,” Mayahi said.
The Green Fee is $10 paid by each full-time student that helps fund environmental and sustainability projects on campus. Some of the Green Fee projects include the outdoor recycling bins, Tiger Bike and the Tigers Initiative for Gardens in Urban Settings, also known as the TIGUrS Garden.
Because of this year’s theme of alternative transportation, Mayahi said organizations such as the Memphis Area Transit Authority, Bird, Explore Bike Share and Tiger Bike will be presenting different transportation options for students to examine and learn. The TIGUrS Garden is a community garden located behind the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, where anyone can come pick fruits and vegetables, volunteer or sit and study. There are also gardens by Jones Hall and the Student Health Center.
Other vendors will include Memphis Light, Gas and Water and the Memphis-Shelby County Office of Sustainability. Mayahi said the vendors usually give out complimentary items, and there will be free lunch. She also said usually 1,000 people attend each year, and it is a chance for people to talk about sustainability.
“The purpose of this is to spread awareness of what’s going on and then also to provide an opportunity to network with other sustainability like-minded individuals and businesses,” Mayahi said.
Arthur Johnson, the coordinator for the TIGUrS Garden, will run the TIGuRS Garden booth at Tiger Blue Goes Green.
“We will be talking about the garden and inviting people to come and enjoy all that we have to offer, which are free herbs and vegetables and a place to hang out outdoors in a wonderful green space,” Johnson said. “We will be giving away all kinds of cool stuff like salad shakers, lanyards and most especially sprouting kits so that people can sprout their own bean sprouts.”
Johnson said the main reason for the event was to inform students about what they can do to help the environment.
“The intention is to foster reducing a person’s carbon footprint and awareness of their part in keeping the world a sustainable environment for us and for the future students who might not be aware of it,” Johnson said.
