Earth Day is this Monday, April 22, and Ohio University has about six hours worth of activities starting with a parade to celebrate the holiday.
On April 22, the parade will start at 4 p.m. on South Green in front of Pickering Hall and will end around 4:45 p.m. at Baker University Center, according to OU’s website. After the parade, people can attend the sustainable infrastructure hub seminar in The Front Room Coffee House at 5 p.m. However, Earth Day events don’t end there, as there are more the following day.
Isabel Stitchick, a senior studying environmental studies, is the Office of Sustainability’s social media and marketing coordinator. Stitchick said it’s a nice breakup in events.
“That's two hours of straight activities, and then we'll have four hours the next day,” Stitchick said.
Tuesday’s events start at noon in Walter Hall with a free thrift store that is open all day. Shortly after it opens, Athens Mayor Steve Patterson will read a proclamation.
At 12:30 p.m., an upcycle fashion show will go on for about 15 minutes with three or four models, Caden Hibbs, a junior studying economics and Student Senate’s environmental affairs commissioner, said.
The fashion show is a collaboration with Athens’ UpCycle Ohio Thrift Store that wants to show people a fashion show can be done sustainably, Hibbs said.
“It can be done in just as fun and celebratory way while you know saving costs, saving production and preserving the environment as we have it today,” he said.
He said showing up to Earth Day events may be a small part of students' days, but they might leave with a new understanding of sustainability.
“Even a small sacrifice like that can have butterfly effects or sugaring effects toward their overall interest in sustainability,” Hibbs said.
Beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday, there will be a bike sale on the Walter Hall lawn. The bikes were abandoned on campus and are being sold for $40 to promote sustainable transportation, Kate Harmon, the office of sustainability’s event coordinator and senior studying environmental studies, said.
From 2-4 p.m., there will be an electric vehicle showing in the Peden Stadium parking lot.
“We kind of have something for everyone,” Stitchick said.
Throughout the day, over 20 organizations from OU and the community will table with information and ways to get involved, Stitchick said. There will also be a local band, Sunday Creek, playing music beginning at 2 p.m.
There will also be some animals attending the Earth Day events.
A local farm, Sunday Creek Sanctuary, which is not affiliated with the band, will bring baby goats for people to pet, Stitchick said. OU’s 4 Paws for Ability, a group that gives students the opportunity to foster and handle service dogs in training, will also be bringing puppies to the event.
There will also be a sustainability awards ceremony at 2:45 p.m. Hibbs said he nominated Student Senate’s Environmental Affairs Commission for an award.
“We make the event multidisciplinary on purpose, just so we bring in as many people as possible,” Stitchick said. “It's important to have people who are educated and people who are passionate about sustainability.”
Education is a main theme for the event this year, Harmon said. The keynote speaker, Dan Voriesk from Rural Action, will talk about environmental education at 3 p.m.
“I hope everyone takes something away and learns something, whether that’s a new sustainable habit or they see the thrift store like, ‘Oh, I didn't really think that I could make really cute outfits out of upcycle clothes and I'm going to stop buying from bad online stores,’” Harmon said.
To learn more about the Earth Days events or to find other sustainability events throughout the year, visit OU’s Earth Day page or Athen's event calender.
