Global Education

 

“Humans are impacting the environment,” Millham said. “It’s important to be environmentally aware.”

Millham is the chair of the committee that planned the Environmental Awareness and Sustainability Day.

According to Millham, the event will be a learning opportunity — with 17 presentations that range from green burial and sustainable agriculture to recycling, reusing and repurposing.

Planning for the April 20 event began in June of last year, she said, and the committee reserved the Old Main Quad in August.

Second–year adolescent education and earth science major Alicia Heinemann has been on the event’s six person planning committee since October of 2012. She said that presentations and activities were chosen not only because they illuminate environmental issues, but also on the basis of their potential to teach participants how to incorporate sustainable living practices into everyday life.

“Many people want to live sustainably, but don’t know how to go about it,” Heinemann said. “With these workshops and presentations, we can help the public start becoming sustainable by teaching them how they can partake.”

Through the day’s arrangements, Millham said she doesn’t want to communicate “gloom and doom,” rather, have people learn the science behind climate change.

Several visual games and exhibitions about weather and climate — the carbon footprint game that helps to determine a person’s carbon footprint — will be available to help engage younger children, Millham said.

In addition to workshops and displays, the event will host guest speakers Andy Revkin and Lynne Cherry.

Cherry produces films for the Young Voices of the Planet series and is the author of children’s books “The Great Kapok Tree” and “A River Ran Wild.”

Revkin is the Dot Earth blogger for The New York Times and author of the books “The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes” and “The Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest.”

Revkin is also “someone involved in the movement,” Millham said.

“Andy and Lynn are well known environmentalists who have helped a lot in teaching how one can be sustainable, so we thought they were great candidates to come to the event,” Heinemann said.

Both national and local vendors will be present and selling sustainable items.

“Supporting the local businesses was a big factor in deciding which vendors to have as well,” Heinemann said.

Local vendors will be on the Old Main Quad from noon to 4 p.m. Local bands will begin performances at 3 p.m. Lectures and presentations will take place in the Lecture Center.