SU and SUNY-ESF to celebrate Earth Week

SU and SUNY-ESF to celebrate Earth WeekApril 15, 2004Karen Moore

Syracuse University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry will mark Earth Week, April 18-24; and Earth Day, April 24 with a full slate of events.

The highlight at SU will be the April 24 University neighborhood cleanup; last year, 40 students and 10 neighbors gathered together to pick up more than 40 bags of trash from around the neighborhood on Earth Day. This year’s participation in the Countywide Earth Day Cleanup is being sponsored by the Department of Public Works, Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency, Southeast University Neighborhood Association, Environmental Law Society, Office of Government and Community Relations, and the Office of Off-Campus Student Services. Volunteers will meet at the Westcott Community Center to work from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m, and lunch will be provided by ZJ’s Pizza and Wings. Interested volunteers should call 443-5489 or e-mail ocsserv@syr.edu.

An entire week’s worth of events are to take place on and around the ESF campus, kicking off with the April 18 New York Public Interest Research Group festival in Thornden Park, from 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Highlights on April 19 will include Decorate Your Bike Day, in which students will be encouraged to decorate their bicycles to promote alternatives to driving; and mural painting and tie-dying events on the ESF Quad.

On April 20, ESF president Cornelius B. Murphy will host the Morning Munch in Marshall Hall’s Alumni Lounge, with organic food served from 8-10 a.m. Among other events that day, wood products and engineering students will sell recycled-wood flower boxes on the Quad and environmental activist Marjorie Strider will speak at 4 p.m.

The April 21 Earth Week Barbecue, beginning at noon, will feature organic foods served on the ESF Quad, and Blaire Horner, NYPIRG legislative director, will present a 4 p.m. lecture on the Right to Know Act, individual action and how to understand environmental legislation. He will speak in the Moon Library Conference Room.

On April 22, ESF’s Ice cream social on the Quad will feature an informal discussion with James Heffernan, vice president of student affairs and educational services, about the Green Campus Initiative, with the ESF/SU juggling club presenting fire-juggling entertainment.

ESF’s Green Campus Photo Contest judging will take place April 23, and students will volunteer at the Community Gardens on Midler Avene that day from 2-5 p.m.; the Alumni Lounge will host musical entertainment beginning at 7 p.m.

On Earth Day, a Thornden Park cleanup will take place from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and a benefit soccer tournament will be held in Archbold Gymnasium to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For more information on ESF’s Earth Week activities, call 470-6650.