Earth Day fair focuses on ways to encourage more sustainability
Brett Gifford
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: News
SJSU students have a chance to see what it means to go green at the Earth Day fair on Paseo de Cesar Chavez today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Students from the Environmental Resource Center have gathered more than 50 vendors, a troupe of Aztec dancers and a few costumed heroes and villains to celebrate the 39th annual Earth Day.
The theme of this year's Earth Day celebration is "sustainability starts with you."
"Sustainability is being able to live your life without impeding future generations from living their lives," said Jennifer Ralston, a junior environmental studies major and Earth Day coordinator.
"The whole point of this Earth Day is to actually get more people involved with the environment," said Anna Le, the director of the Environmental Resource Center.
During the day's events, reusable shopping bags will be given out to vendors and students who make a pledge not to use plastic bags, because of their negative environmental impact.
"If you go out to William Street Park and you look at the river, it's just a bunch of plastics all along the river, building up," Le said.
Students can look forward to seeing Captain Planet roaming the fair and a "plastic bag monster," used to emphasize the environmental damage from plastic bag waste.
"I'll probably be in the middle of the plaza pretending to be a pile of plastic bags," said Dylan Crutchfield, a senior environmental studies major.
There will also be people in chicken and cow costumes from Vegetarian House, an organic vegan restaurant in Downtown San Jose.
Ultra Motor, an electric cycle and scooter manufacturer, will be giving free test drives of its products in the administration parking lot.
Among the displays that will be present will be a fish tank filled with cigarette butts collected on campus.
"We're not trying to tell you not to smoke," Le said, "we're just trying to tell you, 'Pick it up after.'"
After the events on campus, the environmental club and the Environmental Resource Center will head down to McKinley Elementary School, along with the green-mulleted Captain Planet and his plastic-bag adversary, for environmental activities and to pick up trash around the school with the students, according to Yan Yin Choy, a member of the environmental club.
After the fair, A.S. and Crossroads Trading Company will be putting on the Trashion fashion Show, a fashion show featuring clothing made from recycled materials, in the Campus Village Quad from 7 to 8 p.m.
The Aztec dance troupe will be performing Aztec dances that personify nature at 11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.
According to the resource center, students buried a Volkswagen under what is now the Cesar Chavez Monument on the first Earth Day in 1970. Although the vehicle was unearthed and removed later, it set the trend for celebrations to come.
"Every Earth Day, we do something crazy and wild," Le said. "It's a big tradition here that we're proud of. We're just keeping up the tradition."
Students from the Environmental Resource Center have gathered more than 50 vendors, a troupe of Aztec dancers and a few costumed heroes and villains to celebrate the 39th annual Earth Day.
The theme of this year's Earth Day celebration is "sustainability starts with you."
"Sustainability is being able to live your life without impeding future generations from living their lives," said Jennifer Ralston, a junior environmental studies major and Earth Day coordinator.
"The whole point of this Earth Day is to actually get more people involved with the environment," said Anna Le, the director of the Environmental Resource Center.
During the day's events, reusable shopping bags will be given out to vendors and students who make a pledge not to use plastic bags, because of their negative environmental impact.
"If you go out to William Street Park and you look at the river, it's just a bunch of plastics all along the river, building up," Le said.
Students can look forward to seeing Captain Planet roaming the fair and a "plastic bag monster," used to emphasize the environmental damage from plastic bag waste.
"I'll probably be in the middle of the plaza pretending to be a pile of plastic bags," said Dylan Crutchfield, a senior environmental studies major.
There will also be people in chicken and cow costumes from Vegetarian House, an organic vegan restaurant in Downtown San Jose.
Ultra Motor, an electric cycle and scooter manufacturer, will be giving free test drives of its products in the administration parking lot.
Among the displays that will be present will be a fish tank filled with cigarette butts collected on campus.
"We're not trying to tell you not to smoke," Le said, "we're just trying to tell you, 'Pick it up after.'"
After the events on campus, the environmental club and the Environmental Resource Center will head down to McKinley Elementary School, along with the green-mulleted Captain Planet and his plastic-bag adversary, for environmental activities and to pick up trash around the school with the students, according to Yan Yin Choy, a member of the environmental club.
After the fair, A.S. and Crossroads Trading Company will be putting on the Trashion fashion Show, a fashion show featuring clothing made from recycled materials, in the Campus Village Quad from 7 to 8 p.m.
The Aztec dance troupe will be performing Aztec dances that personify nature at 11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.
According to the resource center, students buried a Volkswagen under what is now the Cesar Chavez Monument on the first Earth Day in 1970. Although the vehicle was unearthed and removed later, it set the trend for celebrations to come.
"Every Earth Day, we do something crazy and wild," Le said. "It's a big tradition here that we're proud of. We're just keeping up the tradition."
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