In honor of Earth week, The Campus Sustainability Coordinators and The Sunday Night Group are bringing different student organizations together to put on a festive event with the goal of raising awareness of environmental issues and promoting a healthier planet.
Our planet is currently struggling with numerous environmental issues, many of which have been caused by humans. Our actions are not only harming other organisms on this Earth, but the negative impact we have on the environment today is also extremely detrimental to the survival of our own species. In sum, we are rapidly destroying the Earth through air, water, and soil pollution by increasing our carbon dioxide emissions, demanding too much out of Earth’s finite resources, and destroying vital habitats and ecosystems. As students going to college in a state that might appear to be immune to these issues, it’s easy to forget about the larger consequences our actions can have – and it is partially for this reason that it is so important to participate in Earth Week, and to be aware of how we can affect the planet. It is also crucial that we stand in solidarity with other schools and communities across the world to show our commitment to environmental justice and sustainability movements as an environmentally conscious institution.
What we celebrate as Earth Day today is actually a combination of two environmental awareness events that occurred in the spring of 1970. The first of these events was held on March 21, 1970 to raise awareness about environmental issues as well as promote the idea that it is the people’s responsibility to act as environmental stewards to our planet. The second event was an Environmental Teach-In (organized by Senator Gaylord Nelson) held on April 22, 1970. From this event alone, more than 20 million people from colleges, schools, and communities around the US came together in the (then) largest organized celebration in the history of the US to promote environmental activism. This ultimately led to the passing of important environmental legislation, such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, The Safe Drinking Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is a combination of these celebrations and environmental legislation that have culminated in the Earth Day event we celebrate today.
Earth Day is celebrated in 192 countries and is unique in that it is one of the only holidays that brings together people from such a wide variety of races, nationalities, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds. The diversity of people that celebrate Earth Day demonstrates that taking care of the planet is important and a shared effort because what it stands for impacts us every day.
What You Can Do: Below are a few ideas of things you can do to help sustain the planet. Try them all, or just commit to doing ONE of the following; everything makes a difference:
Transportation:
o Drive less: Walk, bike, and use public transportation instead of a personal car. Take advantage of the ACTR next time you need to get to Burlington. If you do have a personal car, be open to carpooling! It can be a great way to meet new people.
Eating:
o Go vegetarian or vegan (for at least a few meals/ week): Raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gas emissions and requires more land, water, grain, and fuel than growing crops. In fact, every time you eat a plant based meal over animal based meal, you save approximately 280 gallons of water and protect 12-50 sq. feet of land from deforestation. We’re lucky in that all of our dining halls regularly offer great vegetarian and vegan options -- check them out!
o Join Middfoods, EatReal, or any of the number of groups on campus that focus on improving access to sustainable food at Midd and in the surrounding area.
Reduce and Recycle:
o Go paperless as much as possible: every time you print, you are killing trees! If you must print, make sure you are using the double sided option to reduce your paper usage (and number of trees) by half.
o Recycle paper, plastic, newspaper, glass aluminum cans. Use the blue bins around campus!
Save Energy:
o Keep windows closed: save energy with heating and AC
o Turn off or unplug your electronics when not in use.
Also, check out these awesome links for more ways to save the planet:
http://www.50waystohelp.com/ www.350.org
The event will take place on Friday, April 24, 2015 on Proctor Terrace from 3-6 pm. We hope to see you there!
Support Your Local Planet
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