While the rest of the nation will be celebrating a single, 24-hour-long Earth Day this year, Dartmouth's environmental groups have taken it one step further, expanding the event into "Earth Week."
To combat a perceived drop in interest in environmental events, Sarah Uhl '07 decided to step forward to implement a new Earth Day dimension to the Dartmouth campus.
"Reinventing Earth Week" was proposed in early February at an environmental roundtable discussion -- a semiweekly meeting of representatives from different environmental clubs on campus.
Uhl collaborated with a few other activists to begin the preparation of the week-long event. "All the projects are student organized," Uhl said. "Since many people were new to organizing a week-long sequence of events, much time was spent contacting speakers, funding, publicity work and gaining copyright approvals. This is a real College-sponsored event."
According to Earth Week committee member Megan Boyar '03, the main challenge the organization has faced is mobilizing the interest that seems to be so evident on campus.
"There is no dean for environmental studies, and most environmental groups on campus are not documented," Boyar said. "We need support and acknowledgement that is separate from the Dartmouth Outing Club. This is self-starting, and the essence of this event is to achieve an awareness of these groups."
Earth Week had a rocky start, as Friday's "Teletalk" was postponed because of equipment difficulties, which would have hosted Dartmouth alumnus Bill McDonough'73, an environmental architect. Saturday's nature hike, sponsored by the Cabin and Trail club, gathered a total of 10 people and a traditional trash pick-up had a turnout of eight.
Despite the low attendance of the earlier events that were planned to facilitate communication regarding environmental issues, about 30 people attended an event at the Dartmouth Organic Farm event on Sunday.
The committee remains positive that this coming week's events will create an awareness of a topic that affects the whole student body.
For both Uhl and Boyar, the series of nightly panel discussions and agricultural films are the main features, which will allow people to engage in dialogue about environmental problems embedded in the present world.
"The discussions are composed of faculty, alumni and graduating seniors," Uhl said.
"High-caliber people are chosen to create reflections surrounding the issue of relationships to nature and to the environment. Also, society loves the media, and movies will help reach both a new audience and an old audience in a new way."
In addition, the Big Green Environmental Festival, which will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m., will provide ways to become involved in the environmental movement. Students will be introduced to ideas of sustainability, policy-making and reinstating composting on campus.
"The environmental fair is a great way for '07s to get involved with the environmental movement," said committee member Norah Lake '06.
"They can look at what activist groups are doing on campus and choose where to focus their energy."
