April 6, 2010

Earth Week features daily student activities

Earth Day is really Earth Week at CSU Monterey Bay.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, people around the world have sought to celebrate the planet through a variety of individual and community activities. But Earth Day is about more than observing the beauty and vitality of nature; it's also about renewing our commitment to saving our living planet. The Associated Students' Environmental Committee has a variety of activities planned for the week. The week will get under way on Saturday, April 17, Campus Clean-Up Day. Volunteers – staff, students and administrators – will spend the morning (10 a.m. to noon) picking up litter and other debris around the campus. The event will conclude with a barbecue at the Student Center. To volunteer, call Susie at 582-3700. Also on Saturday, a free dance will be held in the Black Box Cabaret from 9 p.m. to midnight. On Sunday, April 18, the campus community is invited to join the Club of Eden and the AS Environmental Committee to learn about the university's community garden and composting. Each student will receive a free plant. Student groups – four per team – are invited to create an environmental-themed work of chalk art on the Main Quad sidewalk from 2 to 4 p.m. on Monday, April 19. Best creation will win $100. From 7 to 9 p.m. in the Student Center, students will have the chance to learn about campus and community environmental initiatives at a sustainability forum. The sixth annual Bike-to-Breakfast event will be held on Tuesday, April 20. Everyone who bikes to CSUMB's University Center on Sixth Avenue from 7 to 10 a.m. will get a free breakfast at the Otter Bay Restaurant. From 8 to 10 p.m., a Tang Pong tournament will be held in the Student Center. Entry fee is $10 per two-person team. On Wednesday, April 21, the campus community is invited to envision peace by planting a Peace Tree from 1 to 2 p.m. At 7 p.m., the World Theater will host a free double-feature movie showing: Disney's "Earth," followed by "Youth and Revolt" with a student fashion show between the films. Thursday, April 22 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Celebrate it by shopping at CSUMB's first Farmers Market, in the Main Quad from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. End the day by enjoying reggae at the BBC from 8 to 11 p.m. Everyone who wears green on Earth Day will receive a raffle ticket for a $100 prize. A pair of films will be shown at 7 p.m.,** Friday, April 23**, in the Student Center. Time to Tackle Climate Change, which shows how workers can play a fundamental role in the route to a sustainable world, and Coal Country, the story of the dramatic struggle around the use of coal, which provides over half the electricity in the U.S., will be shown. The week ends with a three-day student camping trip to Yosemite, April 23-25. The $20 fee covers two nights and three days of food, fun and nature. Registration can be made in the Student Center. For more information, contact Duane Lindsay, Associated Students' environmental senator, at dlindsay@csumb.edu.