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Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Earth Day becomes Earth Month for more

Published 2011-04-18T21:56:00Z”/>

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Tasha Clark

Earth Day on April 22 was created to spread awareness globally of taking care of mother earth by recycling and reusing items in order to reduce trash, making the world a cleaner place.

For more than five years, A.S. Sustainability has turned Earth Day into Earth Month to incorporate activities and workshops throughout April instead of overlapping a variety of things onto one day, said senior Monique Silva-Crossman, an environmental science major and A.S. Sustainability events coordinator.

The same activities such as Eco Fest and Sustainability Seminar Series are happening and they’ve just been spread out, she said. Earth Day activities happening in the community have included projects such as Big Chico Creek and Bidwell Park cleanups.

Net Impact, a campus group that endorses sustainable products and services throughout Chico, has teamed up with the organization Environmental Action and Resource Center to host the Zero Waste Fashion Show and Ben and Jerry’s Japan Relief fundraiser on Thursday at Trinity Commons, said Zack Peek, a senior project management major and director of special events and Net Impact.

Models will be strutting the catwalk in secondhand clothing that was donated to Net Impact’s “freecycle,” Peek said. The freecycle’s clothing was donated by students who dropped off what they didn’t need.

Net Impact and Ben and Jerry’s will be serving ice cream only in cones on Thursday so that no paper cups will be used, Peek said. All proceeds will go to Global Giving.

In recognition of Earth Month, The Recycling and Rubbish Exhibit participated in the Eco Fest April 16, said RARE Coordinator Marley Zalay, a senior environmental health major.

Along with students and community members, the group created reused crafts by planting seeds using toilet paper rolls as a cup to grow flowers in and making magnets out of bottle caps,

Zalay said.

“We try to get others to think of what they can make out of trash so that it has a longer life,” she said.

The 10-year-old organization incorporates the values of Earth Month into everyday life, Zalay said. The staff consists of mostly Chico State students who receive funding by Butte County and their job is to educate students from Chico State and elementary schools about recycling and composting.

RARE, at 3097 Southgate Lane has a discovery museum exhibit that displays trash and wastes and how much it reproduces in society, she said. The organization provides tours of the exhibit and also covers the four “Rs” strategy: reduce, reuse, recycle and rot, which explains the history of trash and facts on current issues of Chico’s waste system.

At the beginning of April RARE. put on a community garden day at the Chico Community Children’s Center. It was a day that encouraged people to grow their own food and eat healthier, Marley said.

Marley thinks that students as well as community members who participate in Earth Month will remember these concepts and take the initiative to becoming sustainable, she said.

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<strong>Tasha Clark can be reached at</strong>

<em>[email protected]</em>

 

  1. Earth Month
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