Talk by NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program Director Highlights Earth Week Celebration

Through the combined efforts of Bryn Mawr’s Sustainability Leadership Group, Big Green Group, Green Ambassadors, Sustainable Food Club, and Community Garden, Earth Week 2016 promises to be a landmark event for the college’s environmentalist movement. Beginning Monday, April 18, the week’s highlights include a keynote speech from Jacqui Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, Eath-a-Palozza, and an Earth Day a cappella concert.

Patterson's talk is titled: "The Flint Water Crisis, Environmental Racism, & Advancing a Just and Sustainable Transition."

Kit Webber ‘18 is among the students involved in planning the week’s events.

“Environmentalism isn't necessarily about ‘saving the whales,’” Kit said. “It's also about environmental justice, like how climate change affects poor people versus wealthy people, and how your food's made, what's more or less sustainable in terms of food… There's no reason it should be narrowed down to one or two ideas about what activism in the environment can be.”

Students attending Earth Week activities will have the opportunity to learn about topics ranging from fuel production with anaerobic digestion to the role of math in community sustainability projects.

The College is also making efforts to create a more sustainable campus through switching over to LED lighting, reducing energy use in dorm buildings, and composting food waste from the dining halls. In 2015 alone, the college diverted 140 tons of food scraps from landfills, avoiding 123 metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution.

The full Earth Week schedule of workshops, panels, film screenings, and concerts can be found on the Sustainability Leadership Group's website and their Facebook page.