Business and environmental sustainability are not mutually exclusive.
Eco-Week intended to prove this to the University community.
Students in Free Enterprise organized its first Eco-Week, held March 2-4, which included Eco-Fair, the Go Green Presentation and the Go Green Spring Fling.
SIFE decided to host Eco-Week to educate the campus community on environmental sustainability, one of the organization’s seven focuses.
“We realized students weren’t aware of eco-friendly businesses around Houston,” said sophomore Ronald Ramsey, SIFE president. “We wanted to show how easy it is to go green.”
Eco-Week started with the Eco-Fair on March 2. Held in front of the Lake House, 18 companies came to demonstrate environmentally friendly products and inform those at the fair about their efforts to practice business in an environmentally responsible manner.
Some of the companies at the fair included the Body Shop, which sells beauty products made from natural ingredients, Chipotle Mexican Grill, which uses organic ingredients, and Smart car, makers of two-seat cars concentrating on fuel efficiency.
The Go Green Presentation, held on March 3 in Belin Chapel, featured Dr. Betty Thompson, professor of biology, and recycling professional Brittani Flowers.
Flowers, a 23-year-old graduate of Central Washington University, started her company, Not Trash Houston, which collects items from residential and commercial clients for recycling.
Thompson presented research her students performed on the environmental effects of golf courses. The study showed that fertilized courses without natural habitats caused water pollution while fertilized courses with natural habitats provided an ecological benefit to the communities.
Thompson, who owns a hay farm in Brenham, Texas, and a timber farm in Magnolia, Texas, presented research from a 20-year study of profitable, environmentally friendly logging methods based on her farm.
“The business world doesn’t need to oppose the environment,” Thompson said.
Eco-Week concluded with the Go Green Spring Fling on March 4 in the Husky Village Clubhouse, an event SIFE hosted last year. Twenty-five students bought $5 tickets to the dance, and SIFE gave away $450 in raffle prizes. The raffle prizes came from some of the companies involved in Eco-Fair and the University Bookstore. SIFE plans to use the money from the dance to purchase additional recycling bins.
Members of SIFE, who were in contact with 60 companies during preparations for the first Eco-Week, hopes to attract twice as many companies for next year’s planned Eco-Fair.
In addition to teaching the campus community about sustainability, the first Eco-Week proved to be an educational experience for SIFE. SIFE faculty adviser Dr. Martin Bressler, professor in marketing, said the organization has developed ideas for next year’s Eco-Week.
“In the first year, you always learn ideas for subsequent years,” Bressler said.
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