The Green Team at the Ross School of Business has been working since 1993 to reduce the environmental impact created by school activity. The Green Team is comprised of representatives from many internal departments of our school who share a concern about the environment and believe that we can improve its policies and practices to help the environment. Many members of the Ross community were unaware of the amount of waste generated and energy consumed by our school. For example, in the past we have used over 4,339 cases of white printer paper a year. This is almost 22,000,000 sheets of paper which would carpet Michigan Stadium's playing field, including end zones, about 245 sheets deep. That's half a ream deep! Anyone who has spent time by the student computing labs knows historically much of this paper was wasted. Recently, this misuse has been mitigated by the new printing policies implemented thanks to the combined efforts of our Dean of Information Technology, Mike Gordon and the Chief Technology Officer and Director of Computing Services, Ed Adams. Educating faculty, staff and students about this type of waste is the primary objective of the Green Team and is only possible due to the on-going support of those who work to save our resources, whether it be financially, environmentally or economically.

Our Mission and Goals

The Ross School of Business Green Team was formed in 1993 with the sanction of former Dean Joe White and the school's administrative staff. The concept was derived from a set of recommendations proposed in a master’s project conducted by a team of graduate students from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. Since 1993, the Green Team's mission has been to assist our school become environmentally responsible in every aspect of its operation. The Green Team's two basic goals are to educate the Ross community about environmental issues in order to reduce the school's environmental impacts and to support changes in "green-related" activities and policies. This will be an ongoing process and will require the cooperation of everyone in our community. Only by changing traditional behavior and attitudes can we accomplish significant and lasting improvements. Our current Dean, Robert Dolan, has furthered our efforts with his enthusiastic support of our mission and it is this kind of "family unity" that has been integral to the continuing success of the Team's efforts.

Green Team  Projects

The Green Team has several outreach projects, the largest and most publicly known being our annual Green Clean Day in which our Faculty, Staff and PhD students stop the everyday flow of business to focus on the three environmental R's, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle. This all-school event garners more participants each year and has greatly improved Ross community awareness about ways in which business operations can become "green".

We are excited to announce that our Green Clean family has increased in the past several years to include the School of Engineering (all 18 sub-divided schools participate on the same day!), the School of Information, the School of Education, Fleming, Central Human Resources, LS & A, the Law School and even the President's Office just to name a few. Joe White recently even held a Green Clean day on Wall Street and plans to start the tradition at the University of Illinois. The message is spreading and the dominoes are falling. We are so excited to know that it all began in the Ross village we all know as our home.

If you have any questions about the Green Team, are interested in holding a Green Clean Day at your school, or would like to share your own ideas of environmental success, please contact the
Green Team representatives via email at: thegreenteam@umich.edu