Green Dorm Room

Youth-led non-profit Teens Turning Green is set to launch Project Green Dorm 2013, a call to action designed to inspire college students and incoming freshman to pack up for school in an eco conscious frame of mind. This fall, Project Green Dorm is aiming to inspire the student masses to embrace an ethical lifestyle starting with their dorm room or living space.

An innovative and all-encompassing resource, the PGD website features a dozen lifestyle categories and highlights the most essential items and info on each through interactive Pinterest boards. In addition to these resources and an extensive Back-to-School Green Packing List, TTG will feature photos of their thoughtfully curated Green Dorm Room. The green dorm room highlights the ultimate in conscious living showcasing sustainably made, organic, recycled, upcycled, NonGMO, fair trade and second-hand items. “Our Green Dorm Room is truly unique,” says, Sarah Vorreiter, a TTG Advisory Board member and Senior at the University of Illinois, “We are hoping that each college student finds pieces of inspiration they wish to adapt into their own living spaces.”

Through the Green Dorm Checklist, PGD proves to be a versatile resource, guiding students and families to the places that distribute a wide variety of eco products. The checklist highlights national businesses like Whole Foods Market for food, sustainable body care, cleaning, wellness and zero waste products, Under the Canopy for Bed Bath & Beyond featuring organic cotton bedding and towels and many others, offering students a wide variety of eco options for their dorm rooms. “The list of companies becoming more conscious in sustainable development, environmental responsibility and consumer health is on the rise due to growing customer demand” says Anna Hankins, TTG Student Advisory Board member and freshman at UMass Amherst. “It’s possible to buy ethically across every lifestyle category and PGD is a catalyst to help build that momentum.“

In addition to the web components, TTG will launch a blog called TTG Green Girls (in August) following the lives of key campaign members as they become informed, mentor their peers, inspire green campuses, and build a movement of student changemakers nationwide. “College campuses are the incubator for change,” says Ashley Ugarte, a junior at Rice University and TTG’s Communications and Social Media Coordinator. “We want our peers to recognize the power of small actions and collective efforts towards a greener and healthier future for the planet and ourselves. One voice can lead to hundreds and then thousands, and that will have huge global impact.”

What’s Next?

Project Green Dorm is TTG’s opening act for its third annual 30-day eco-lifestyle competition, Project Green Challenge 2013 (PGC), debuting October 1st and ending on the 30th. PGC aims to raise awareness amongst this generation of students about conscious living, informed consumption and the collective impact of individual actions. High school and college students from around the world are invited to sign up and take part. The Grand Prize package is valued at $12,000.

About Teens Turning Green
Teens Turning Green is a student-led movement devoted to education and advocacy around environmentally and socially responsible choices for individuals, schools and communities. TTG seeks to engage youth in the transition from conventional to conscious living, empowering the next generation to action to sustain our planet.

Partners
Project Green Dorm and TTG programs are made possible through partnerships with like-minded champions of sustainability and the environment, including The Shaw Fund, Lisa & Douglas Goldman Fund, Whole Foods Market, Acure Organics, Amy’s Kitchen, Aubrey Organics, Crofter’s Organic, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Guayaki Yerba Mate, JetBlue, Kimpton Hotels, Natracare, Numi Teas, Annie’s Homegrown, Cavallo Point, EO Products, Desert Esssence, Ecojot, Eileen Fisher, Juice Beauty, Kejriwal USA, Manitoba Harvest, Marin Community Foundation, Navitas Naturals, Nourish Organics, R.W. Garcia, U Konserve, Swisspers Organic, Under the Canopy, Vermont Soap, and Straus Family Creamery.

Media Partners: CSRwire, Earth911, CocoEco, ecofabulous, and Causes.

For more information, to sign up and get involved, visit TeensTurningGreen.org, email info@teensturninggreen.org or call 415.289.1001. Begin your conventional to conscious journey, share your story with us and join us on Facebook and Twitter @TeensTurnGreen #PGC2013. Visit our Pinterest Boards and join us on Instagram for more fun, creative and informative tips and resources on how to green your life.

Attn Media: Opportunities for Interviews

Ashley: Junior, Rice University • Houston, Texas.

Ashley is a Health Sciences + Environmental Policy Studies major and the Communications + Social Media Coordinator for Teens Turning Green. Ashley believes in and informs others about the viable impact of individual and collective efforts towards environmental sustainability. She is just finishing up a two-and-a-half month internship with us in the Bay Area and will be heading back to Rice to take on the world. Ashley is launching our first virtual Conscious buying co-op featuring ethical products for students on her campus as well as leading the #nonGMO: Students for the Right to Know national campaign. She will be living in an off-campus house with 3 roommates and will work to transition their lives from conventional to conscious. We are working with Ashley to host an event for a magazine shoot on August 1st at Rice. Please let us know if you would like to be involved in the greening of her room.

Next Steps: TTG is working with Ashley and partners to turn her room completely green from bedding, to products, accessories, food, snacks and beverages. Ashley will engage her entire household of 4 girls in the process of transitioning from conventional to conscious college living. She will be developing a social media campaign, capturing the experience through photos, videos, and blog posts. Ashley is an avid foodie, passionate about the importance of conscious consumption, sustainable agriculture and educates others about eating organic, local, seasonal and non-GMO foods. She is head of the student food advisory at her school as well as the co-chair of the environmental committee. She will be working on launching #nonGMO: Students for the Right to Know campaign and working closely with campus dining with the goal of a Non-GMO dining hall. Ashley will be launching a virtual buying co-op on her campus so students have access to eco essential lifestyle products and exposure to ethical brands + companies.

Anna: Freshman, U Mass Amherst • Amherst, Mass.

Anna was the PGC 2012 runner up and has been a leader on campus in sustainability for her high school career. She is arriving on her new campus and already working with the extraordinary U Mass sustainability team as a liaison with TTG. Anna is rooming with the eco rep on her floor and they have decided to green the routines and lifestyles of all the 24 students sharing her “live and learn” dorm floor. Anna is taking a lead as a Campus Rep for PGC 2013 and also introducing TTG’s Freshman Green 15 on her campus. She will be the point person for the GMO OMG, Bringing it Home, and Unacceptable Levels film screenings on her campus and will be a powerful voice for change around these issues. If you are interested in providing product for the 24 students on her floor to support Anna in her quest to transition them from conventional to conscious, please let us know.

Next Steps: Anna is working with her roommate (also an Eco Rep) to inspire their entire floor of 24 people to transition from conventional to conscious and will actively pursue that task!

Sabine: Sophomore, New York University

Sabine has been interning with TTG for four years and this past spring hosted a Conscious College Road Tour stop as a freshman at NYU. Sabine will be a PGC Campus Rep and will help ground many TTG programs and projects on her campus. She is working with the Columbia University Eco Reps team to start a similar program at NYU. Sabine a powerful voice for change and a great influencer on her campus working very closely with the NYU Sustainability Office. Sabine will be transitioning her dorm room to the deepest shade of green!

Next Steps: Sabine and her roommate will turn their room green and influence their large group of friends through activities and conversations. Sabine is actively pursuing the opportunity to bring the Eco Reps program onto the NYU campus.

Jessa: Senior, University of Texas, Austin

After attending the University of San Diego as an Honors Environmental Studies student, Jessa will be transferring to University of Texas – Austin this fall to finish her degree in Sustainability. She was one of the finalists for the inaugural year of Project Green Challenge in 2011. Since then she has been involved with many programs and initiatives Teens Turning Green is developing and launching, including: Project Green Spa, The Conscious Collections, and Freshman Green 15. Since living in Austin, she has participated in Whole Foods Market’s Academy of Conscious Leadership at the invitation of the Co-CEO. As an avid social media communicator, Jessa is a contributor to in.gredient’s, the zero-waste local grocer, online blog with simple ways to go green and eco-happenings in Austin.

Julia: Sophomore, University of Alabama

Julia was a PGC 2011 finalist and has been with TTG ever since. She is a core member of our communications team and an inspired Green Girl!

Julia is an Environmental Science and Spanish major, social media chair for the Environmental Council and a member of the Sustainable Food committee. She has a passion for simplicity and stewardship, and she expresses that passion by minimizing waste in her life, eating a plant-based diet and being a conscious consumer of everything she buys. Julia believes a room can be an incredible energizing tool and wants to learn how to harness that effectively so that she can go out into the world and make a positive impact!

Teens Turning Green

Teens Turning Green

Teens Turning Green is a student led movement devoted to education and advocacy around environmentally sustainable and socially responsible choices for individuals, schools, and communities. TTG seeks to engage students in the transition from conventional to conscious, empowering the next generation and mobilizing action to sustain our earth!

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