Reduce, reuse, recycle.
For some, these words serve as a catchy phrase learned in grade school. For others, these words serve as a lifestyle.
ASU student group Campus Student Sustainability Initiatives hosted the Earth Day Festival on Friday with a full day of music, activities, food, art and information.
“Earth Day is an opportunity to make sustainability fun and showcase initiatives to the broader community,” said sustainability junior Natalie Fleming, director of engagement of Campus Student Sustainability Initiatives. “Other events are more focused on education and recruitment, but Earth Day is really more of a celebration.”
Every year on April 22, millions of Americans contribute to the movement to make the world more environmentally friendly.
ASU played its part by hosting “Rock the Earth” from noon to 10 p.m. Friday on Barrett Palm Court and Hassayampa Pavilion Lawn.
In an effort to “go green,” CSSI offered bike registration and repairs through the Undergraduate Student Government, and interactive art installation utilizing recycled materials by student artists. Throughout the day, the artists would add and collaborate their artwork to make one masterpiece.
A number of ASU organizations helped create the event, including the Programming and Activities Board, which had pots, soil and seeds. Circle-K International had a booth for paper crane making that supported relief efforts in Japan. Purchasing a crane, which came in a plethora of designs, went toward funds to help Japan.
Earth Day is the largest civic observance in the world, according to the Earth Day Network website. ASU contributed by hosting an entire week dedicated to Earth Day on all four campuses.
“Earth Day is a great start in promoting awareness of the unhealthy relationship humans have with the environment,” sustainability sophomore Joe Hennessy said. “Not only does the environment provide free resources — air, water — and food and services, [such as] purification and energy, but also humans are warming the planet with carbon dioxide and degradation and desertification of very dense environments.”
At the festival, as students climbed a rock wall, others learned about the sustainability offerings at ASU. The Global Institute of Sustainability is the hub of ASU’s sustainability initiatives.
“Sustainability is all about finding innovative solutions to the challenges we face, accounting for not only the environment, but also societal and economic factors,” Fleming said.
The first-ever School of Sustainability trains the next generation of sustainability practitioners, entrepreneurs and leaders. Many sustainability students take pride in their school and take action in solving today’s most important problems.
Local and national musicians were highlighted at Friday’s event, including Priority Male, Pitchforks, Chris Rorrer, Cosmic Goat, The Sweeps, The Bend, La La Lust, While We’re Up, Samson & The VeraGroove, and Stükenberg. Former ASU quarterback and musician Samson Szakacsy and his band also performed.
For four hours, there was free T-shirt screen-printing, where people brought any shirt to have the Earth Week logo printed on it. The design was created by graphic design freshman Emmi Brytowski, who helped in the design and marketing for the entire Earth Week.
“It was really cool seeing people getting excited about getting the design printed on their shirts and wearing it around,” Brytowski said. “It’s an awesome feeling knowing that your design is appreciated and met the goals of the event.”
Ten consecutive hours of live music were partnered with five hours of henna tattoos and free recycled blue books from the Student Book Center. Also featured were TOMS shoes from Here on the Corner boutique pop-up shop, and free local food samples from Aramark.
“Earth Day awareness could be better by incorporating social injustice issues; after all how humans treat each other is a huge indication of how we treat the environment,” Hennessy said.
Reach the reporter at kvanklom@asu.edu
