Celebrate sustainability with a week of Earth Day events

The university will mark Earth Day with a week of events hosted by the Office of Sustainability, Students for Sustainability and the Associated Students of the University of Arizona. The events, which are free and open to the campus community, will showcase organizations throughout campus focusing on sustainability.

"There are so many amazing groups on campus doing meaningful work to help us reach the climate neutrality goals for both the university and the city of Tucson," said Kenzie Jackson, campus and community outreach coordinator at the Office of Sustainability. "I really hope people will attend as many of these events as they can, learn about what's happening, and figure out how they can contribute. Every action, no matter how small, brings us closer to our goal of climate neutrality by 2040 and helps make our community healthier and more sustainable."

Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22. The events planned for that week are below.

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Music and Crafts | April 21, 5-7 p.m. | Community Garden, 1400 E. Mabel St.
Participants can learn to create sustainable crafts that can be made with everyday objects while enjoying live, local music. 

Sustainability Summit | April 22, 9 a.m.-noon | Environment and Natural Resources 2 Canyon
The fourth annual Sustainability Summit will include guest speakers and tabling by organizations committed to environmental efforts.

Market on the Move | April 23, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. | University of Arizona Mall
Market on the Move is a partnership with the Arizona nonprofit The 3,000 Club that brings free, fresh produce to members of the campus community. Anyone is welcome to take food, and leftovers are donated to the Campus Pantry.

Yoga Night | April 24, 6:30-7:30 p.m. | University of Arizona Mall
Participants can enjoy yoga with friends on the Mall. Yoga mats are provided in limited quantity.

Planetarium Show: "Climate Change in our Backyard"| April 25, 6 p.m. | Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, 1601 E. University Blvd.
This show explores the role of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the natural temperature variations the Earth has experienced over millions of years, and how we are affecting our planet today.

Members of the Office of Sustainability will also be staffing a table at the Children's Museum Tucson's Earth Day celebration on April 19 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

In addition to the Earth Day events, the Office of Sustainability has several ongoing initiatives. They include:

• University of Arizona Community Garden | Founded in 2012, the Community Garden offers 38 plots that students, faculty, staff and Tucson residents can rent to plant their own food. The space is also used for educational programming on green learning and sustainable practices, and has incorporated community-donated compost, diverted wastewater from the Highland Garage Water Harvesting Cistern and the efforts of 10-20 University volunteers. 
• Campus Sustainability Fund | Much of the sustainable work on campus is made possible through the Campus Sustainability Fund. The fund offers mini grants and annual grants for projects that focus on waste reduction, energy use, education outreach and related sustainability efforts. Any member of the University community can apply; up to $550,000 is awarded each year.
• FoodCycle at Home | In partnership with the city of Tucson, the FoodCycle program is a food waste collection and composting program allowing residents to receive training materials and plastic containers to fill with the food waste they generate. Containers can be emptied at bin drop-off locations. The compost is then redistributed throughout the community.

A year-round commitment

While Earth Day focuses attention on sustainability, the university has ongoing initiatives aimed at fostering resilience and environmental impact throughout the year. Among them is the Arizona Institute for Resilience, which has launched the Low Commitment Book+ Club, a space for faculty, staff and students to explore environmental resilience throughout the year. Through books, movies, podcasts and more, the club offers the campus community an accessible way to discuss how to adapt and thrive in the face of environmental challenges.

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"The overall goal is to meet monthly to talk about various aspects of resilience," said Olivia Miltner, a program coordinator with AIR and one of the club's organizers. "It's such an important topic and we wanted to come up with an accessible opportunity for folks who are interested in coming together to reflect on the work happening on campus and beyond."

The group, which was launched in December with a holiday book swap, focuses on a different resilience-related topic each month. Participants receive a list of recommended titles, and they can discuss whatever they choose at the meeting. In March, the focus was "Futurism," with recommendations including the book "The Hunger Games" and the movie "The Martian."

"It can be really intimidating to be assigned a book to read every month, especially on top of all the other things we have going on in our lives," Miltner said. "We wanted to make this an easy, low-pressure way for people to engage with resilience topics through whatever kind of medium they prefer."

Miltner and the club's other organizers, Maia Schneider, Carson Scholars and Liverman Fellows program coordinator, and Nancy Peterson, assistant director of the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice, offer the following recommended reading and viewing list for interested members of the campus community.

Books:

• "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers
• "The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World" by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• "Emerging World: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Future of Humanity" by Roger P. Briggs
• "Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future" by Alan Weisman (Weisman will be giving an author talk on campus on May 5)
• "What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures" by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

TV Shows and Movies:

• "Silo"
• "The Wild Robot"
• "Princess Mononoke"
• "Mad Max: Fury Road"
• "WALL-E"