Every Sunday night, we order food from our favorite restaurants (e.g. Chipotle, Joy Yee's, Giordano's, etc.). All the residents take a break from studying to come downstairs, get some sustenance, and talk with friends.  Munchies refuel the body and rejuvenate the soul! 

Like other residential colleges on campus, GREEN House hosts an environmentally-themed discussion each week, called a Green Tea.  Typically, we gather in the GREEN House lounge to drink green tea and listen to the week’s speaker. Afterwards, we discuss the topic and the speaker answers any questions.  Past speakers include individuals like University President Morty Schapiro and Director of Sustainability Rob Whittier, and groups such as Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) and NU Real Food.

Philanthropy is an integral part of GREEN House’s mission. Each year, residents vote for an environmental cause and spend all year raising money and awareness for this cause. We do community service at our beneficiary at least once in the fall and again in the spring. Throughout the year, we plan fundraisers to support our cause. In the past, we’ve raised upwards of $2,000 for our philanthropy!

Besides our annual beneficiary, we also volunteer with other local organizations, like the Evanston Environmental Association, and other environmental groups at Northwestern including WildRoots. We are a mean, green, volunteering machine. BUT being in GREEN House means more than only organized community service; it’s also about individual actions. For instance, if you’re walking to class and you see a plastic water bottle laying on the ground, we want those who are willing to RECYCLE it! We at GH stress environmental stewardship as a group and as individuals.  

Green Cup is a campus-wide competition to reduce water and energy use from October to November each year.  GREEN House LIVES for this competition.  We encourage individuals to reduce energy consumption through less light usage (cough cough dark lounges at night!), unplugging unused electronics, air-drying clothes, and taking shorter/fewer showers.  GREEN House has won this competition nearly every year since its inception (except for 2013 which we won't talk about, and 2016 because of an unfair power outage advantage) and plans to keep the cup in GH for a very long time! We are the latest 2017 Green Cup champs!

During winter quarter, GREEN House residents are invited to participate in the GH formal, during which we dress up, dance, and hang out together. For example, the 2015-2016 school year formal was held jointly with Hinman at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago. The 2016-2017 formal included a delicious and fancy dinner at Fogo de Chao downtown. In 2018-19, GREEN House residents donned fancy attire for some WhirlyBall and laser tag.

Each year during spring quarter, we organize a weekend trip to a local campsite, during which we hike, make s'mores, and relax before finals.  Most residents participate in this trip, strengthening our already tight-knit community.