Celebrating Earth Day and Earth Month in April

Around the world, April is a month of celebrating and increasing awareness about climate change and the environment. The Sustainably Management team’s goal this year is to inspire the campus community to learn how they can participate in helping protect our campus and the Earth’s environment.

Earth Day will be celebrated on April 22. Sustainability Management is collaborating with the Student Association Sustainability and Community Engagement Committees; the Department of Earth and Environment Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences; the New York Coalition for Sustainability in Higher Education (NYCSHE); the SUNY Student Assembly; and Bard College to bring an assortment of events to the campus community.

Environmental Justice in Syracuse Virtual Panel
Tuesday, April 6, 6 p.m. ET

The Student Association Sustainability Committee and Community Engagement Committee will host a discussion with local leaders about environmental injustices that occur in and around Syracuse. The panel includes:

• Deka Dancil, president of the Urban Jobs Task Force;
• Neil Patterson, assistant director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment;
• Catherine Landis, associated faculty at the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment; and
• Thomas Perreault, professor and chair of the Department of Geography and the Environment in the Maxwell School.

Students, faculty and staff interested in the event may sign up here.

Solve Climate By 2030 Panel Discussion
Wednesday, April 7, 6 p.m. ET
Sponsored by Bard College, NYCSHE and the SUNY Student Assembly

Students, faculty and staff are invited to join a regional panel discussion about how an ambitious Green Recovery based in state and local action can put us on the way to solving climate change by 2030. A panel of thought leaders will provide their perspective on what a Green Recovery in New York would entail, the one most impactful action that can be taken and how students can advocate for change. Register here or for more information contact gogreen@albany.edu.

Waste-Free Menstrual Cycle Education and Menstrual Cup Giveaway
April 8, 15 and 22

The Student Association Sustainability Committee will table in the Schine Student Center to sign up participants for their menstrual cup giveaway. The Committee will be giving away 20 menstrual cup goodie bags, which include a menstrual cup, compact sanitizer, washing solution and bag. The tabling event will also provide information about having a waste-free menstrual cycle.

Lunch and Learn: A Look Behind the Scenes of Campus Recycling
Wednesday, April 14, 12:30 p.m. ET

If you are interested in what happens to your recyclables on and off campus, join Sustainability Management for a virtual Lunch and Learn to learn what really can be recycled, why it can be recycled and how it gets recycled. This session will reinforce Sustainability Management’s goals for increasing recyclables on campus and reducing contamination before it is sent to the recycling center. These figures also determine the ranking of the University in the Campus Race to Zero Waste—an annual recycling and waste reduction competition where colleges and universities compete from across North America. Sign up for the Lunch and Learn on the Office of Human Resources website.

‘Cooking for the Planet’ Plant-Based Cooking Class
Tuesday, April 20, 6 p.m. ET

Join Meg Lowe, sustainability coordinator, and Claudia Cavanaugh, sustainability student intern, for an interactive, virtual cooking class. Learn about how a plant-based diet will help save our planet while making a delicious coconut curry. The class is free, open to the campus community and limited to the first 20 people who sign up. Registrants will receive an email with the link to join and can pick up their ingredients at the Carriage House, 161 Farm Acre Road, on the day of the event.

‘David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet’ Screening and Panel Discussion
Thursday, April 22, 4 p.m. ET

On Earth Day join Sustainability Management and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences for a free screening of the documentary “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet” on Zoom. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion at 5:30 p.m.; participants can join the entire event or watch the movie on their own time and tune in only for the panel discussion. 

“A Life on Our Planet” serves as Attenborough’s “witness statement” through which he shares concerns for the current state of the planet and hopes for the future. Many are familiar with Attenborough as a faceless narrator, but in this film, you will go on a journey with him as he traces his 60 plus years as a naturalist, showing you the planet’s past and present biodiversity and the degradation humans have caused over the years.

Join the post-film panel discussion with Syracuse University Earth and Environmental Sciences professors, including:

• Professor Suzanne Baldwin, a geologist who investigates the rock record to reveal how the Earth has evolved over geologic time;
• Professor Melissa Chipman, a paleoecologist who uses lake sediments to study interactions between past climate, wildfires and permafrost thaw in the Arctic; and
• Professor Sam Tuttle, a hydroclimatologist who studies the movement and storage of water throughout the Earth system.

Pollinator Kit Giveaway
Wednesday, April 28, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

As a Bee Campus USA affiliate, Sustainability Management and the Bee Campus USA working group will be in the Schine Student Center on April 28 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to hand out Pollinator Kits! Stop at the table to pick up a free kit and learn why planting pollinators is important. The Pollinator Kits include everything needed to plant herbs that help pollinators and can be transplanted to your garden or repotted to fit in your space. No registration is necessary.

For more information about sustainability at Syracuse University, visit the sustainability website and follow @SustainableSU on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.