NUI Galway has recently registered for The Green Campus Programme aiming to empower students and staff to create a more balanced campus community by actively preventing and reducing environmental impacts and associated costs. The seven-step Green Campus Programme is based on the successful Green Schools Programme and provides an ideal way for fostering environmental awareness in a third level institution in a way that links to everyday activities and study, and ties in with operational requirements of a complex multi-use facility. Green Campus aims to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of a school or college. The initiative includes the students, lecturers, non-teaching staff, and parents, as well as the Local Authority, the media, and local business. The Green Campus initiative mirrors the principles of Green-Schools and endeavours to extend learning beyond the classroom and lecture theatre and develop responsible attitudes and commitment, both at home and in the wider community. The programme, which is operated by An Taisce, has a seven-step operational plan which the University is required to complete. Dr Aoife Collins, Chairperson of the Environmental Committee for the Green Campus Project at NUI Galway, says: "The participation of staff and students in Green Campus is an ideal way of harnessing the enthusiasm and knowledge they have vis-à-vis environmental enhancement. The Green Campus Committee will be involved in spreading information to the wider University audience on issues varying from biodiversity to car-sharing. We are working towards attaining a Green Flag which will act as a visual sign of the committee's achievements." -Ends-