Earth Day celebration extended to 'Earth Week', festivities begin Tuesday

This year, FGCU’s annual Earth Day celebration has been expanded to four days. Earth Week will kick off Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. and will conclude with a table at Community Engagement Day on Friday. Although the nearly week-long event is themed “Make a Change,” each day will have its own unique topic.

Tuesday’s topic is food.

Events include keynote speaker John Puigfrom from Eden Farm, who will speak at 1 p.m. followed immediately by the Food Choices discussion panel.

Organizer Joan Firth said she hopes the FGCU community will participate in the open discussion, which will focus on alternative eating habits.

“It’s about making informed choices,” Firth said.

At 4 p.m., students will be offering guided tours of the Food Forest, the student-run garden located on campus near the Sugden Welcome Center.

Tuesday’s festivities will conclude at 8 p.m. on the library lawn with a showing of “Food, Inc.” The movie discusses the nation’s eating habits and gives insight to food production and distribution trends.

Transportation and exercise combine for the theme of the day on Wednesday. Highlights include yoga at 9:30 a.m. and a longboard race at 6 p.m.

Also on Wednesday, from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. LeeTran will be offering free rides on a new gas-electric hybrid bus to Elevation Burger at Gulf Coast Town Center.

Thursday’s theme is entertainment.

Activities include an art fair and an “everything swap.” Music will be provided by the Wholetones and Sheffield Crew.

Keishla Negron, a senior who has helped organize several Earth Day events has said that she enjoys the variety the week offers.

 “I love how each day focuses on different aspects of our lives,” Negron said.

Firth summed up the week by saying, “Its going to be one giant, awesome information party.”

For more information and a detailed schedule, go to: http://www.wix.com/fgcu_earthday/2012#!

In related news—on Tuesday, April 3, the Students for Environmental Justice held an informational event titled “Environmental Justice, What’s that?”

According to group president Tyler Offerman, there is a lot of confusion about what exactly environmental justice is.

He said it’s “not justice for trees” and asked, “When people say they throw things away, where is away?”

He said environmental justice deals with fixing an inequitable distribution of environmental burdens such as pollution, crime and other topics.

That’s why the two hour event dedicated nearly all of the first forty-five minutes to discussing the definitions of what Offerman called the “foundations” of environmental justice—concepts such as privilege, oppression and discrimination.