With spring temperatures finally creeping into the forecast, Earth Day seems to have fallen at the perfect time this year. Student groups across campus have united to make this week a fun-filled celebration that appeals to all students, not just students who consider themselves environmentalists. Earth-fest 2005, an extended celebration of Earth Day, will last from today through Saturday.
"If we just appeal to the typical environmentalist, hippie kid, we're not effectively spreading awareness," said senior Jennifer Baldwin, an active member of Tufts Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO).
Earthfest organizers have been planning for the event since Christmas break. "Earthfest has never been so organized," Baldwin said
Earthfest will begin with the Trashy Fashion Show at Hotung tonight at 9 p.m. "Models are encouraged to make their outfits out of predominantly recycled materials," said sophomore Kara Davidson, coordinator of the fashion show. The show will be conducted in style, to the tunes of DJ P-Funk and Tufts BEATs.
In keeping with the effort to involve many different personalities and talents in Earthfest, students scheduled to participate in the fashion show this Tuesday bring an artistic flair to an earthy celebration.
"The majority of people signed up for the fashion show are interested in design," Davidson said. "They're not specifically environmentalists."
In the same vein, "the majority of students working on Earthfest activities are not environmental studies majors," junior Elizabeth Oo of Tufts ECO added.
Baldwin had the idea for the Trashy Fashion Show one night when a friend was getting ready for a "No Clothes, No Naked" theme party.
There will be three judges for the competition: junior Luke Brown (former Daily fashion columnist), Anja Kollmuss (project coordinator for Tufts Institute for the Environment) and junior Dave Baumwoll (TCU President).
Dinner on Wednesday will also be earth-focused at Dewick's "Welcome to the Jungle," a meal featuring organic and environmentally-friendly food. And just in case dinner isn't enough to quench their thirst for Earthfest fun, students can follow dinner with a movie: there will be a free screening of "Finding Nemo" in Pearson 104 at 8 p.m.
On Thursday afternoon from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., the campus center will be transformed into a carnival, with games, prizes, and photos with Captain Planet. And on Friday, ECO will serve free dessert from 11 a.m. through 2 p.m. on the academic quad.
"It won't be just vegan stuff," Oo said. "We're planning on having real mud pies!"
Following dessert, a "Green to Green" panel will be held on environmentally and socially responsible business practices in the Crane Room, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Earthfest will end on Saturday with a Mystic River Cleanup organized by Water Watch. Approximately 100 people have signed up for the cleanup, and Mass. state representatives and other community members will be joining the effort.
"We're trying to bring lots of environmental groups together," Baldwin said. "We want to make earth week happy and accessible ... our goal is not to make people feel guilty."
Soon Tufts will also decide whether to add a small sum to tuition costs in order to allow for the purchase of renewable energy. If each student contributed at most $20 a year, Tufts could purchase between 25 and 50 percent of its energy from wind power.
Students designed last week's demonstration of miniature windmills on the lawn outside Tisch to support this cause. If the proposal is approved, fees would be added to tuition charges starting in the fall of 2006.
"I took a survey at the beginning of the year to see what students thought about paying for renewable energy, and they seemed to think that $10 a semester was virtually nothing," Baldwin said.
"It's not asking the individual to do much," Oo added. "But collectively, we can make a big difference."
Earthfest 2005 is sponsored by ECO, Water Watch, Young Entrepreneurs at Tufts (YET), Tufts Institute of the Environment and the Tufts Democrats. "Group collaborations are awesome because they bring new audiences and perspectives," Oo said. "It's a good way to spread awareness."
For the culmination of the week, there will be a panel discussion on Friday sponsored by ECO and YET. The panel will include speakers from Socially Responsible Investors (SRI), Ceres, Toyota and Terracycle.
Ceres was formed as a partnership between environmental groups and institutional investors in 1989, in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. SRI is an investment firm focused specially on college endowments, and Terracycle is a young recycling business. Representatives from Toyota will talk about the hybrid Prius.
