FPU Celebrates Earth Week

by Erica Tomaszewski
edited by Phil Enright

On April 22, students on campus will celebrate the 40^th annual Earth Day with special events coordinated by Eco Club and the science department.

In past years, there have been a few events planned to make students aware of Earth Week, but this year Ari McLean, Eco Club President, said they are collaborating with the science department to create a week of fun, informative events for students on campus.

“We thought of events that we could incorporate with the outdoors, and with different places and people on campus.  We really want to inform as many students as possible about Earth Week,” said McLean. “We have had good turn outs before. I know teachers really promote it in classes, and we hope to have lots of students attend the events this year.”

The Eco Club will be hosting their third annual plant fundraiser in the glass foyer on Monday, April 19 to kick-off Earth Week.  Members wanted to keep the plant sale tradition alive, but also wanted to include new events such as kayak races to try to get more aspects of campus involved in the Earth Week celebration.

Also this year, in attempts to attract a different crowd, Eco Club will be hosting “Low Carbon-Dating,” on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. on the Academic Mall.  The event will include music, food, and games such as Frisbee, flashlight tag, and relay races.

For the remainder of Earth Week, Eco Club and the science department have planned a gardening event, campus clean up, and speaker Sy Montgomery to talk about the environment.

Freshman Jen Connors said she has never celebrated Earth Week before, but she hopes the events next week will help her learn more about the earth.

”I am looking forward to the kayak races on campus next week.  I really like how the Eco Club is putting on an event that I can go to with my friends to learn about the environment,” said Connors.

McLean hopes that students will see the posters around campus and come to the Earth Week events.

“I have seen the advertisements around campus for Earth Week, and the events seem really great.  I bought a plant for Earth Week last year, and I am looking forward to attending more events this year,” said sophomore Mat Overdeput.

For the past three years Eco Club has planned Earth Week events, in order to make students more aware of what they can do to make their earth a better place to live.