Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is holding several Earth Day events to spark environmental awareness for our planet. April 22 is Earth Day and the Sustainability Committee, and a few of SLCC’s clubs planned events to celebrate.
On Tuesday, different themed events were held at the Taylorsville and South City campuses.
“We’re holding the event[s] on Tuesday because [it’s] when the most students are on campus,” said Adam Dastrup, a member of the Sustainability Committee.
The event at South City was entitled Alternative Transportation. Students and faculty learned about alternative transportation methods and made pledges to do something different in their lives to help the environment. Students pledged to plant gardens, carpool, bike to school, pick up trash, and bring their own bags to the grocery store.
At the event students from Howard Ingles’ Eco-Psychology class gathered over 400 hundred signatures for a petition that supports the subsidization of UTA Bus Passes for SLCC Students.
“There’s a lot of people that can’t get to school, and affordable bus passes help make that happen,” said eco-psychology student Cassy Nielson.
At the same time a sparsely attended Sustainability Fair was held at the Taylorsville campus. Students and faculty came to learn what and how to recycle at SLCC.
“People usually pass by on their way to class, then come back after seeing it,” said Brittany Miles, a member of Student Leaders in Civic Engagement (SLICE) and volunteer for a local food co-op. ” I wish more people knew about the Co-Op,” Miles added.
A food co-op is an organization where you can order groceries at low cost from a conglomerate of local farmers and merchants. By filling out an order form and turning it in you can then pick up groceries each week at a number of sites in Salt Lake City.
Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG) also had a booth at the fair where people could purchase gardening plots and become their own gardener. Desa-rae Robertson, an SLCC student and volunteer at WCG explained that WCG is a non-profit organization that is funded entirely by grants. It finds locations around Utah for people to garden who otherwise couldn’t, such as apartment dwellers or those who otherwise don’t have space to grow.
Attendees also learned about Recycle mania, an ongoing competition between colleges to see which can collect the most recyclable materials.
On Wednesday the 20th the festivities will take a different turn with a movie screening and discussion. The movie Earthlings will be shown at noon in the Oak Room of the Student Events Center on Taylorsville campus. Earthlings chronicles humankind’s treatment of animals and nature.
On Friday the 22nd a final Earth Day event will be held at the Taylorsville campus. This celebration will be held, weather permitting, at the SLCC community garden, located on the east side of the Construction Trades building. If it rains the event will be moved into the nearby Student Events Center.
People can come plant seeds and flowers in the community garden planters. Flowerpots and planters will also be available to paint and decorate. Every planter box in the Community Garden is taken care of by a department at the college. Some examples are: Health & Wellness Center, Thayne Center, Student Life & Leadership, the Biology Department and SLCC Writing Center.
“There is lots of representation and involvement from all over the campus,” Dastrup remarked.
Each organization does what it wants with the food and flowers that arise from their effort. The event will have plenty of food and music to go along with the painting and planting fun. The Community Garden Committee sponsors the event.
Community Food Co-Op of Utah: https://foodco-op.net/
Recyclemania: www.recyclemaniacs.org