by Jilleen Barrett & Kelly Cwik, A&E Editor & Asst. A&E Editor

HerCampus Manhattan is taking part in a new challenge encouraged by the national HerCampus organization to promote sustainability on col- lege campuses. During the “green week” challenge, contributors to the college’s chapter of the magazine will focus all articles on different aspects of the environment.

Casey Schellberg, a sophomore childhood and special education major, is a contributing writer for the Manhattan College chapter of HerCampus and wrote about her view of the initiative in an email to The Quadrangle.

“Green Week x HerCam- pus is an initiative to share environmental awareness across campus, empower each other with sustainable practices and most importantly, celebrate [Green] week,” Schellberg wrote.

Schellberg detailed what she planned to focus on in her own article.

“I am writing an article about how I am staying green in a takeout world,” she said. “Everyday we see thousands of plastic containers, plastic silverware, and paper bags be- ing used and thrown away on campus due to dining being completely take out only. In my ar ticle, I suggest simple and inexpensive ways college stu- dents can make take out dining more sustainable and green.”

Bridget Turro, another contributor to the popular online magazine, detailed how the Manhattan chapter plans to collaborate their efforts with affiliated chapters in order to expand the reach of their articles. “We are collaborating with our sister chapters, from the University of South Florida, the University of Miami, and Lasell University,” Turro wrote in an email. “We all are passionate about saving the Earth and do- ing what we can to help prevent climate change so we thought doing Green Week would be a great way to spread our mes- sage through all of our campuses!”

Schellberg wrote more about why she personally feels the topic is important to discuss amongst college students.

“It is important to highlight Earth Week at HerCampus be- cause it allows our members to write about environmental needs as well as how to make sustainable and green changes to our lives as college students,” she wrote.

This is not the first time HerCampus Manhattan has at- tempted to use their platform to invoke social justice. Turro pointed out that the chapter has raised awareness for other causes in the past.

“Here at HerCampusMC, one of the main things that we feel it is important is to be activ- ists in what we are passionate about,” Turro wrote. “With the following that we have on campus, we feel that we should use it in a positive way. In the past, we have done stuff for Women’s History Month and Black History Month so we thought that this would be perfect for us.”

The national organization has recently made an effort to promote other challenges like green week star ting in Feb. 2021. Their official chapter challenge document for the month of April reads:

“As Spring arrives and we see new growth and flowers in full bloom, let’s celebrate our Earth by taking care of it and making sustainable choices! Take time this month to appreciate the outdoors, take action to protect this planet’s beauty for future generations and consciously decrease your negative impact on our environ- ment!”

For participating in the challenge, HerCampus Man- hattan will receive 10 points. According to the HerCampus handbook, points are used to measure how often individual contributors submit articles for their chapter’s website. This in- centive encourages each chap- ter to participate in challenges such as green week.

More information on the green week collaboration can be found on the HerCampus Manhattan Instagram page, @ hercampus_mc.