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Since 1970, we have set aside one day a year to recognize the importance of our planet and its valuable resources, known as Earth Day. Members of the Sustainability Committee, the Sustainability Club, and students in various classes across campus are contributing to Earth Day events both on and off campus.
Events planned for this year include:
Friday, April 21, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the SMC, Dr. Kathy Schreiber and her Geography students will staff a “Climate and Society” table to talk about properly recycling on campus.
Saturday, April 22, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, Dr. Justin Mando will facilitate the Conestoga River Cleanup. The campus is invited to participate. The link to sign up: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annul-earth-day-birthday-clean-up-tickets-519307381357.
Saturday, April 22, at 11 a.m., Dr. Nadine Garner, chair of the Sustainability Committee and advisor for the Sustainability Club, will give the presentation “Sustainability Efforts at Millersville” with members of the Sustainability Club at the Ware Center during the Lancaster County Climate Summit.
Saturday, April 22, students in Dr. Tanya Kevorkian’s History 218: People and the Environment class will display posters summarizing the findings of their Pennsylvania environmental papers in the Ware Center lobby during the Lancaster County Climate Summit.
“Every day is Earth Day. It is important to understand how our daily behaviors can both help and harm the delicate balance of the ecosystem we call home. Earth Day provides an opportunity to call attention to the many ways that we can educate ourselves about sustainability and find practical ways to make a difference in the health of our communities and the planet,” says Garner.
In addition, Dr. Dominick Manusos and his students in the Department of Applied Research have expanded the Precious Plastics program to process and recycle a new plastic-type on campus. Their previous and current efforts surround the recycling of #2 and #5 plastics, and they are actively working towards the on-campus recycling of #1 plastics (PET bottles). Students are also engaged in an independent study on extruder design and the manufacture of extruders.
Garner is collaborating with the Sustainability Club to relaunch the campus TerraCycle/Smile Train program, “It takes a ‘Ville-age to Save a Child.” TerraCycle is an international upcycling program that upcycles waste into usable products. Garner and the Sustainability Club are moving stored TerraCycle-eligible items out of Garner’s office and relocating them across campus to the new home for TerraCycle: the TerraCycle Workshop, located on the first floor of Stayer Hall. Garner donates the proceeds from the TerraCycle contributions to the Smile Train organization, which provides cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for impoverished children.
