This holiday season The University of Scranton is encouraging its students to go green when they do their holiday shopping by staying downtown.

Through a new “Shop Scranton, Shop Local” initiative, students can support downtown Scranton businesses and find unique gifts – while reducing their carbon footprint.

“There are so many distinctive shops downtown that offer gifts you can’t find anywhere else and patronizing these stores is a great way to support the city of Scranton,” said Julie Schumacher Cohen, director of the Office of Community Relations at The University of Scranton. “Walking downtown to shop is also a great way to cut down on driving, reduce gas costs and avoid parking congestion.

To read the full article, available on TheTimes-Tribune.com, click here. (The article was written by Kari Dombroski ’13, a student correspondent.)