In honor of Earth Day April 22, a group of stakeholders is being formed by Sustainability Coordinator Kylee Singh in order to plan this year’s Earth Week.
Singh has been forming an advisory committee to develop a sense of community around Earth Week’s events.
“One of the big things Kylee wants is to have some better stakeholder engagement and buy-in in terms of this really seminal day for environmentalism [by] engaging students in different roles as well as faculty and staff to come in and create an advisory committee,” Green Campus member and environmental management and protection senior Ben Christensen said.
Singh and facility members said they hope members of the advisory committee have ideas for Earth Week, and will offer their perspectives to relate to a larger community.
“Last year I did a lot of the planning myself and I felt like there was not a lot of community involvement on the project,” Singh said. “The community will hopefully help garner that support.”
So far, the week will include a green career panel, an Academics Charrette to discuss sustainability’s role in the school’s academic curriculum and a speech given by a chosen environment.
Students will be able to volunteer for the week-long event and participate in it as well.
“We will definitely have volunteer roles and if students have ideas or would like to do a presentation, they can come to me and I can help them reserve a room and get it on the schedule,” Singh said.
The events will be focused on the impact it will have on the school, according to Christensen.
“It’s a great opportunity to learn more — really interesting speakers, panels, activities that are a great opportunity to learn more for students. And hopefully it’s a reminder of this connected tradition in environmentalism,” Christensen said. “Earth Day is such a big token environmentalist item, starting fires, and making people excited.”
Students such as civil engineering freshman Claire Anovick believe Earth Day is meant to be celebrated, as it reminds students to appreciate and take care of the planet.
“Earth Day is a first step in gaining a greater appreciation for the world, year round. It’s a holiday that reminds us as a student body to go outside and experience nature wholeheartedly,” Anovick said. “I believe Cal Poly is located in one of the most beautiful places on Earth and, as students, we can take Earth Day as a reminder of the beauty that we must preserve and protect for future generations.”