Earth Day spawns environmental initiatives

With the 2006 release of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient
Truth” and with the national movement to “go green,”
VCU also has stepped up its effort to make its commitment
to helping the environment known.

To celebrate Earth Day tomorrow, recycling
coordinator Steve Heinitz and the VCU Recycling
Department are teaming up with the Monroe Park
Campus Student Government Association to spread
the word through games and an assortment of other
activities about environmental awareness.

Roberto Celis, director of green affairs for the SGA,
has high hopes for the event.

“I want students to have fun with the environment
and get more students involved in the fun,” he said.

The Earth Day Celebration is to take place from 10:30
a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at the Compass at Shafer Court.
Those staffing the event will be handing out an array
of free pens, frisbees, water bottles, T-shirts and seeds
for the novice gardener. One can take a break from
the games and free face painting to peruse the tables
of various organizations that will be represented that
day-some of which include the League of Conservation
Voters, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland
Fisheries and VCU’s departments of Environmental
Studies and Life Sciences.

A “Dress Green” competition also will be held
throughout the day. With the interpretation of “dress
green” completely at the discretion of the individual,
the contestants will be photographed and judged
on the quality and creativity of their outfit. The
top two winners will receive a personal compost
system, providing them with an alternative method
for waste disposal.

Organizers of this year’s event, which will feature
live music and various demonstrations, say they hope
to draw a greater number of attendees than did the
informative tables of the Earth Day observance of
previous years.

In the event of rain, the celebration will be held
Wednesday.

About Earth Day

The creation of Earth Day in 1970 coincided with
the establishment of the Environmental Protection
Agency by Richard Nixon. The goal of this agency
was to promote environmental protection and public
health. Since then, this holiday has seen a fluctuation
of broad recognition (the average college student
might have a vague memory of planting a tree or two
in his or her grade-school days) and involvement on
an individual level.

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Schedule

(times are subject to change):

11:15 a.m. – Yoga instruction

12 p.m. – Live band

12:30 p.m. – Treeplanting ceremony

1 p.m. – Break-dancing group Commonwealth
Breakers

2 p.m. – Capoiera demonstration