Rain doesn’t damper students’ Earth Week

Neither hail nor rain can stop Chico State students from getting out and doing sustainability work.

Students worked to keep the legacy of the City of Trees alive through activities such as tree planting during Chico State’s Earth Week, April 22-25. The tree planting and creek cleanup on Friday were part of the initiative to become a designated Tree Campus USA school.

Student participants planted eight trees with the help of the city, California State Parks and Bidwell Mansion. At the end of the day, they planted five trees on the corner of Third and Chestnut streets and three outside Bidwell Mansion.

Lance Park, a junior international relations major, participated in the Arbor Day event and planted a tree at Bidwell Mansion.

“I’m not some tree-hugging hippie,” Park said. “I think we really do need to start implementing sustainable practices, and having events like these is just the beginning.”

People need to realize that everyone needs the same environment and they need to stop degrading it, he said.

“It’s promising knowing there’s things like this happening and showing respect to the world that we live in on a smaller scale,” Park said.

Nate Millard, a science education and First-Year Experience lecturer, was involved in hosting the event with the First-Year Experience Program.

Other hosting organizations included Associated Students Sustainability, Institute for Sustainable Development, International Society of Fraternities, Cross-Cultural Leadership Center and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Students had the opportunity to plant a tree right next to where John Bidwell planted a tree, Millard said. Other events during the week included a festival with a compost workshop, a sustainable business discussion and a presentation by Jose Gonzalez, founder of Latino Outdoors.

Erica Martin, park interpretive specialist for Bidwell Mansion, helped students plant trees on Friday.

Sustainability is a good direction for the planet to be going in, she said.

“I think it’s great to be able to have this legacy here in a tangible way that we can share with people through the ages,” Martin said. “Hopefully 100 years from now, we’ll be planting trees on the Bidwell Mansion property and throughout Chico.”

Amanda Hovik can be reached at [email protected] or @AmandaHovik on Twitter.