The fall of 2018 was the start of a year-long celebration of 10 years of the Live Green! Initiative on campus.

To mark the celebration, every month of the 2018-19 school year Live! Green has hosted different events, each pertaining to a theme relating to sustainability.

“Moving green” was the first theme in August and included free snacks, giveaways and activities like outdoor yoga on Central Campus.

September’s theme focused on educating students on how to “dine green” on campus with the fourth annual local food festival: “An Adventure in Eating.” The festival included local farmers from the Ames area, campus organizations such as the Horticulture club and campus faculty from the ISU Dining Center.

“We are trying to get students to understand that there is more to food than the industrialized food system,” said Emily Coll, administrative specialist at the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach at the event. “That they can buy food from a local farmer so it’s just as safe.”

Students and other attendees were given reusable bags provided by the Live Green! Initiative to promote sustainable shopping.

The Live Green! Initiative encouraged students in the month of October to “Learn Green” while inviting them to attend their lecture series in the Memorial Union.

Artist Andrew Kozlowski spoke to students on the importance of reducing waste while creating art in his lecture: “Art and our Culture of Ephemerality.”

The owner of Des Moines based clothing company RAYGUN gave a lecture to students on ways he is able to keep his clothing company as environmentally sustainable as possible as he can in “Making T-shirts Out of Pop Bottles.”

“With the environment, you are not making the perfect environment, you are making the best version of the environment,” Draper said.

The Live Green! Initiative organized “Sust-Ames,” a local shopping event for Ames students and residents as apart of “Buying Green” for the month of November.

The Initiative collaborated with downtown Ames and local businesses as a way to promote local and sustainable shopping within the Ames community, attendees were also given special discounts as a part of shopping local.

“For every dollar spent in local businesses, 73 cents stays in the community,” said Molly Breen, an intern at the Office of Sustainability.

To end first semester, “Creating Green” was emphasized by the initiative in the MU where students could learn free and sustainable gift wrapping by using repurposed materials.

To start 2019, January will focus on “Giving Green,” where students are encouraged to drop off gently-used clothing, non-perishable food items and toiletry items in collection boxes that are located on the official Live! Green website.