Fresh face for annual Earth Fest celebrations

Rukshana Jalil Staff Writer

As Earth Day approaches, the Vassar Greens are engaged in a flurry of preparations for the numerous preliminary events aimed to raise environmental awareness around campus including Earth Fest on Saturday, April 19. The Vassar Greens will collaborate on these evens with other groups, including the Sustainability Committee, the Student Activist Union and Hip Hop 101, to put a fresh spin on Earth Week festivities.

This year’s Earth Fest promises to be especially lively, as the Vassar Greens and Hip Hop 101 are collaborating on the event for the first time. In past years Hip Hop 101 has hosted its annual Throwback Jam on the quad on the same day as Earth Fest. Now the two are working together to combine the events.

Earth Fest will begin with a panel on environmental justice entitled “Green For All: Race, Class, and Environmentalism” on April 19 from 12-1:15 p.m. on the quad. The panel will feature rapper KRS-One, CEO of Seventh Generation Jeffrey Hollender, a representative from the Sustainable South Bronx and a member of the Poughkeepsie-based organization Green Teen. Professor of Geology Jill Schneiderman will moderate the panel, and afterward different Vassar environmental groups will table on the quad to educate the Vassar community on environmental issues.

The most exciting part of Earth Fest will likely be the performances and music. “I’m really excited about seeing the legendary KRS-One play,” said Vassar Green Party member Reed Dunlea ’09. “I think Earth Week is going to be great this year because a lot of people are going to be interested in coming to see KRS-One perform on the quad. Automatically, they’re going to get involved in environmental issues.”

The Vassar Greens have hosted film screenings every Wednesday leading up to Earth Day hope to continue these screenings after as well. The films King Corn, Everything’s Cool and Who Killed the Electric Car were screened in hopes of bringing about more aware of environmental problems.

The annual Contra-Dance hoe-down, hosted by Professor of Earth Science Jeffrey Walker and his family on their farm, will take place as well on Friday, April 19. On Earth Day on April 22, the campus is invited to partake in the traditional tree planting on the Vassar Farm.

The purpose of Earth Week is not only to bring about more awareness of environmental issues, but also to celebrate the positive changes that Vassar students have made to the environment.

“I think we’ve had some pretty good successes, one being to make the take-out containers at All Campus Dining Center compostable. Personally, I feel that Vassar, compared to other schools, is doing a pretty good job,” said Vassar Greens co-President Sophie Muschel-Horton ’09.

Dunlea agreed that there has been an increase in environmental work at Vassar. “Here at Vassar, I think people definitely do much environmental work on an individual level. Pesticides are being used in the lawns, the whole fluorescent light bulb exchange is a big deal because saves a ton of energy.

Also, the Senior Class Gift [last year] was solar panels on campus, a great move to do more environmental friendly building on campus,” he said.

The Earth Week collaborators have found it challenging to incorporate people who aren’t already involved in environmental activism. Through working with Hip-Hop 101 and publicizing the events, the groups hope that more individuals will join the fight to reduce energy consumption and protect the environment. Despite what Vassar has already achieved, there can never be enough environmental work done.

“I think everyone can always do a lot more. Maybe people are aware of these issues, but are a bit overwhelmed because they feel as if what they could do wouldn’t really make a difference,” said Vassar Greens co-President Mandana Nakhai ’10. “We want to infuse people with new ideas that will make them more active to change their life styles. People have this idea that living sustainably is a terrible fate that would change our lives drastically, but that’s not really true,” she said.