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Earth Week Events Promote Sustainability Awareness

Associated Students Inc. and the Green Team are partnering to host a series of Earth Week events on campus.

An act as simple as reusing a water bottle instead of tossing it in the trash can trigger an environmentally friendly habit.

That's the message behind Earth Week 2016, a series of events led by Associated Students Inc. (ASI) and the Green Team to put a focus on sustainability.

Earth Week, which runs April 21 to April 28, features events such as "Carpool and Coffee," in which students will be given free coffee when they carpool, "Take Back the Tap" that features a reusable water bottle giveaway, and a fashion show of environmentally friendly attire.

"The purpose of Earth Week is to promote environmental education," says Elliott Popel, ASI secretary of sustainability. "We have plenty of ideas for sustainable projects to implement on campus, but that takes time. What we can do in the more immediate future is educational things, like promoting the hydration stations on campus, where students can refill their water bottles."

Earth Week has been a way for the Green Team and ASI to join forces and promote different areas of sustainability with events, including "Carpool and Coffee" that's scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday.

"The Green Team will be there offering people free reusable cups that people can put their coffee in," says Emily Creegan, president of the Green Team. "While ASI will be there highlighting carpooling, we're able to come alongside and also promote less waste."

The Green Team will host "From the Earth Day" on Thursday April 28, and an Earth Day Festival on Friday, April 29.

"From the Earth Day" features free Spadra Farm salads. Shuttles to Spadra farm will run from noon to 2 p.m. in front of building 2.

Alexia Mackey said that Green Team members wanted to have the Earth Day Festival be a celebration at the end of the week to bring as many clubs together as possible. It runs from noon to 5 p.m. at the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies.

"We have 12 activity booths, featuring tie-dye, compost-making kits and seed bombs, which you can throw into open fields to plant wildflowers," she says.

Popel says that he's seen awareness increase in recent years, and hopes that it continues.

"We're not asking them to do very much, but just by making a small change, they can drastically improve the climate," Popel says.

To learn more about the events happening during Green Week, visit the ASI website, and the Green Team's Facebook page.