Earth Day Week kicks off at Wright State

Earth Day may be this weekend, but there are many ways students, faculty and staff can celebrate sustainability this week at Wright State University.

“We kicked off the week Saturday with the RCA Get Lucky, Go Green event, and there were a lot of great ideas, but it was just the beginning,” said Linda Ramey, Ph.D., and Wright State’s director of sustainability.

At the event, students got together to talk about all the different ways they could live a greener life by reusing materials and by dedicating themselves to recycling.

“The goal for Earth Day is to connect people with the importance of caring responsibly for the space on earth that we lease while we are here.  We want to see ‘Earth Day, Every Day!’ translate into sustainable life choices by everyone, each day,” said Ramey.

Other Earth Day Week activities at Wright State include:

• Monday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in the Student Union, a screening and panel discussion of the “Call of the Scenic River: An Ohio Journey.” Wright State grad Tom Mayor shows his movie about Ohio’s Scenic River Program in the 40^th year anniversary of the Clean Water Act.

• Tuesday, April 17, and Thursday, April 19, take a walk in the Wright State Woods to learn about nature and pick up litter. Meet in the Creative Arts Center turnaround at noon to join the group.

• Wednesday, April 18, from 3 to 5 p.m. join the Wright State Raider detachment of the Army ROTC with a Campus Cleanup. To learn more, contact Lt. Col. Phillip Woolford at phillip.woolford@wright.edu or by phone at 775-2586.

• Friday, April 20, rise from the rack early and test your physical fitness in the Army Combat Physical Fitness Challenge at 7 a.m. To learn more, again contact Lt. Col. Phillip Woolford at phillip.woolford@wright.edu or by phone at 775-2586.

• Also Friday, April 20, at the Eastwood Metro Park from 12:30 to 4:30 Wright State’s Outdoor Recreation Center (ORC) is hosting a kayak float trip. For more information contact the ORC at 775-5019.

• Saturday, April 21, Wright State’s Gang Green, the University of Dayton Sustainability Club and FEED Dayton will participate in the Earth Day MobilizeU competition by building raised-bed gardens. Contact campus coordinator Adam French at French.21@wright.edu to learn more.

• Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22, celebrate Earth Day in your own way and be part of the effort to do a billion acts of green. Sign up your activity with EarthDay.org.

• Saturday, April 28, join the Office of Sustainability and Adopt-A-Highway litter clean up along I-675.  The group meets at 9 a.m. in 264 Brehm Lab.

The Wright State Campus Community Garden project is another example of how the Wright State community is working together to ‘green’ the campus.  While this project is just getting started, the garden is intended to provide fresh produce for the Wright State Food Pantry.

Visit http://www.wright.edu/sustainability/ to learn more about how you can participate in these and other sustainable events and efforts on campus.