Green Corner: Embracing Earth Day with green celebrations
On April 22, the world will celebrate its 43rd anniversary of Earth Day and this year, Rider will be hosting an Earth Day celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the campus mall right outside Daly’s.
The original Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970, and 20 million people around the world launched the modern environmental movement, according to earthday.org. These environmentally-conscious human beings helped birth a movement that is still going strong today. Thanks to these individuals, bills such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act were passed. The environment became a topic that would be discussed for years.
For the past 43 years, Earth Day has been a celebration of the Earth. All over the world schools, colleges, offices and town municipalities have celebrated Earth Day and have educated people about global environmental issues. These issues, such as deforestation, global warming, offshore drilling and water crises, have been in the news for years now. Earth Day brings awareness to these events. People who are passionate about the environment can connect with one another to find ways to help out the world.
Rider will be joining in the celebration of the glorious holiday celebrating our Earth. If you have a chance, stop by the campus mall and learn about being sustainable, while having fun. There will be chances to win prizes by playing fun games, such as a “cow-milking” competition, which is a fun game where participants can milk a fake cow to win prizes. There will also be a quiz wheel, a recycling competition and other games. All of the events are meant to educate people on how the environment is a delicate system and show that we need to protect it.
A great part of coming to our Earth Day celebration is that you will find out ways to volunteer. Rider has an organic garden, as well as two beehives. Volunteers are needed year-round for the garden and the bees as well as other projects. If interested, students can sign up to be part of the “Green Team” and become an Earth warrior at Rider.
Rider is proud to show what it has to offer in terms of “living green” and has been recognized in Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges the last three years running. To add to the great initiatives, Rider’s goal is to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Earth Day will be very exciting, and you will learn so much about our planet and how to help clean it up. Come with questions and learn about how you can be “green” at college and have a great time doing it.
-Stephen Schwartz
Lawrenceville Eco-Rep
Printed in the 4/05/13 edition.
