After months of planning and anticipation, SUNY-ESF is now right in the middle of its annual Earth Week celebration. Dedicated to the “Improve Your World” motto, this week marks a time to keep expanding awareness of environmental issues while having good, clean fun.

Though Earth Week is a momentous time for State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students, faculty and staff, the celebration is often not as sustainable as it could be. Improvements should be made to make Earth Week a better representation of environmental standards.

With events such as an activities fair and barbecue, the Earth Week Committee and Office of Student Affairs have worked to focus on the celebration aspect of Earth Week. They make it fun for all involved, encouraging games and activities to bring the campus together.

Though aspects can be improved, Earth Week has made great strides to culture a sustainable mindset. For fun activities, there are recycled craft events, clothing swaps and waste audits.

These activities, educational events, seminars and forums pack the weeklong schedule, in which campus members can learn about water rights, petroleum deposits, native issues and so much more.

While creating an enjoyable time, the groups work to create Zero Waste events, or events in which no trash and no recycling are created by not supplying disposable plates, napkins or cups.

Though this is a goal for many organizations and events on campus throughout the year, too often the goal does not become reality, specifically during Earth Week.

Waste in the forms of trash and recycling from major events during Earth Week is staggering. Just because some events during Earth Week are meant to be fun and not centered on curriculum does not mean we can forget our environmentally conscious goals. More Zero Waste events should be implemented to reduce the amount of waste during Earth Week.

Along with reducing waste, Earth Week should be a time when the campus comes together to reduce energy usage. In the past, activities such as inflatable games have sucked up a large amount of energy, above that of normal college use. More energy-conscious activities and games should be utilized in future Earth Week celebrations.

While many events are a great resource to the ESF campus, most events are heavily ESF-attended only. To truly foster the sustainable mindset across campus, more outreach is needed to involve all students on the Hill.

Events are open to Syracuse University students, but few people actually know about Earth Week, let alone the variety of events included. It is not an issue of interest, but an issue of getting the word out. ESF should advertise more on SU’s campus.

Earth Week is an exciting time for stumpies, with fun and educational events packed into a weeklong celebration of the environment. Though the events are successful in meeting their goals, improvements should be made to practice what the college preaches, while also reaching out to neighboring campuses.

Meg Callaghan is a junior environmental studies major at SUNY-ESF. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at mlcallag@syr.edu.

Published on April 17, 2013 at 1:45 am