Dear Umbra,
With Earth Day coming up, our environmental group at Purdue, Campus Greens, is trying to plan some events. Last year we had 15 groups handing out information and we provided free veggie burgers plus other food. This year we were hoping to expand on that success and include some activities like having people manually power a TV, washing machine, or some electronic device. Other than that, we're really struggling for ideas and support at a die-hard conservative school. Any help would be appreciated.
Anthony
West Lafayette, Ind.
Dearest Anthony,
Thank you for your letter. I would rather eat horse food than veggie burgers, so I welcome the opportunity to weigh in and suggest activities that I personally would find more enticing.
Suitable for all.
Photo: iStockphoto.
Please don't fret. So many Earth Days have passed since 1970 that you should not be starting from scratch on this one. No need to invent things out of whole cloth when we have 35 years of experience at colleges around the nation, and the internet to help us pilfer those examples.
Earth Day activities can be celebratory or educational, and the educational ones can be aimed at a green audience or at novices. You've got your speakers, your awards, your sorting of trash on the main quad, your Top Ten Things You Can Do lists, your tree plantings, your volunteering at schools, your Car-Free Day. A fun event might just be nominally earthy, like a band or a scavenger hunt. You're just trying to raise awareness, and get a few more fish in the net, so it doesn't need to be completely original.
If you have the funds and time, it might be nice to have a mixture of activities, so that your group feels invigorated and advanced by at least part of the event, rather than run down by a poor response. If you expect your audience to be conservative, you might find a speaker who could give an introductory talk pitched to non-greens, something like "Theories of Global Warming and the U.S. Economy."
You also might have luck with an activity specific to Purdue and the concerns of Purdue students and staff. We all know conservation can be good to our wallets. What could you instigate, or pass out, or sell, that would reduce student expenses, or improve their lives, that would also be approved by the administration? If you met with plant operations or a budget group, could you ask them for input on how you could work together to cut electricity or garbage costs, or beautify the campus, or something along those lines? Perhaps you'll find a project that Campus Greens can do in tandem with the college. Wouldn't that be killer? You would get college support, maybe a little money, definitely promotion, and you could kick it all off on Earth Day.
Maybe that's a fantasy, but I know you can find something better than a human-powered TV. If you want to highlight humans as an alternative energy source, bike tune-up workshops would be better.
Bossily,
Umbra
Ask Umbra on ditching dirty things
Ask Umbra’s video advice on composting
Comments
View as Flat
lrmyers11 Posted 6:33 am
06 Mar 2006
Permalink
sjjy Posted 9:24 am
06 Mar 2006
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 2:20 pm
06 Mar 2006
I have no idea what the zoo situation is like out by Purdue. But many large zoos in our country (by no means all, unfortunately) are run by thoughtful, knowledgeable zoologists for whom the preservation of biodiversity is a major cause, and in which the education of an ill-informed public is a daily task. Many animals in zoos do not mind a bit of traveling, and many zoologists already make it their practice to travel with certain individual animals for educational purposes. One or two (a wolf?; a python?) would certainly be a draw. Possibly such a visit to your campus by a professional docent with one or more animals can be arranged for Earth Day. Possibly students could participate in presentations of the ecosystems, and their difficulties, that the animals represent. And possibly, in reverse, the zoologists may have interesting volunteer opportunities available for college students.
Ethically, treating animals as educational props is always an animal-rights issue. I for one believe that it can be done humanely. But much thought and caution are necessary beforehand.
Permalink