City of Oxford, Miami students collaborate to keep Oxford green

Miami University students are partnering with the City of Oxford to help local businesses reduce their environmental impact through the 513 Green certification program.

Alex Miller, sustainability engagement coordinator in the Office of Sustainability at Miami, helped create Students for Sustainable Development in an attempt to increase experience for students and help bring more eco-friendliness to Oxford.

The group Students for Sustainable Development, which started in 2025 as a subset of the Government Relations Network at Miami, works alongside Cincinnati’s 513 Green, a free sustainability certification that aims to help businesses and organizations lower their environmental impact, and the City of Oxford to increase eco-friendliness in local businesses, schools and retail.

Additionally, the City of Oxford’s goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2045 goes hand-in-hand with Miami’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2040, according to Miller.

“They can’t really do it without us, (we’re) doing our part, as the largest part of Oxford’s (carbon) emissions,” Miller said. “It’s a symbiotic relationship.”

Miller said that working with the City of Oxford, specifically Sustainability Coordinator Reena Murphy, has been helpful because of her expertise on local businesses.

“It was really great to have her perspective,” Miller said. “There are sometimes things I wouldn’t know, as someone who works for the university, of what it is like owning a business in Uptown or (in Oxford).”

The team, which consists of six students, consults businesses on sustainability practices, utilizes social media and manages relations to the student body and coordinates events.

Last summer, the first Oxford business to be certified was the College Artisans Shop on 10 S. Poplar St., according to Miller.

Hillel at Miami University, Energy Improvement Matters and more recently the MOON Co-Op, have also been certified, totaling four Oxford locations.

Cassie Cannon, a sophomore student at Miami University and member of Students for Sustainable Development, shared her excitement at seeing the group’s first business certified.

“It was really cool that after all the work and training the past year, we finally got our first business certified,” Cannon said.

Cannon said that sustainability played a big role in her coming to Miami.

“I was really really passionate about sustainability, sustainable energy and policy,” Cannon said. “I came here and I knew I wanted to get involved with (this) stuff.”

Cannon added that working with this group has given her valuable experience in consulting with businesses.

“All businesses can be sustainable,” Cannon said. “There’s things that can be put in place to improve different retail, businesses (and more).”

The process of becoming certified consists of a consultation that details each business’s sustainability. Businesses, retail spaces, restaurants and schools can apply for certification.

The application consists mainly of a checklist, with questions varying slightly for each category, according to Miller. Businesses need 45 points on their application to reach the certification level.

After applying, businesses will have a meeting, typically lasting between 25 minutes to an hour, with a member of the team and go over the application and the sustainability of the business. Once certified, each business will receive publicity on social media and a window cling acknowledging its certification.

Miller hopes that one day each certified business in Oxford will be a part of a networking bubble that would help each business support one another.

Businesses interested in applying can visit the 513 Green website. To get involved, Miami students can reach out to Miller and Cannon via email, or visit Miller’s office at the Armstrong Student Center.