Celebrate the Earth, Come On!

Forget 4/20. This year it’s all about 4/22 (aka “Earth Day”).

“The good thing about Earth Day is that environmental activism can be dismal in a way, but it’s a good time to celebrate the earth, it’s fun. It’s not ‘the end is near’ kind of deal,” Earth Day Committee Co-Chair Deborah W. Kuhn ’09 says of the holiday founded in 1970 to celebrate and protect the planet we call home.

Each year, the Environmental Action Committee (EAC) invites various student groups related to the environment and local environmentally friendly businesses to set up tables at the festival, according to Co-Chair Emily A. Wilson, ’07.

In past years, the EAC has also set up an energy efficient “model dorm room,” and Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 has spoken on the use of renewable energy at Harvard. Not to mention, there’s always the usual goodies of food and music, and of course the token EAC Nalgene.

This year the festival will take place on Apr. 21, and in a new hot spot—the MAC quad, which Kuhn hopes will translate into an upgraded fair.

Wilson also hopes to step up Earth Day’s game: “This year we’re going to try and have a raffle for gift certificates from various environmentally aware businesses,” she says.

Kuhn calls undergraduate environmental consciousness “really encouraging.” She sees the filling of three auditoriums for a screening of “An Inconvenient Truth” as a sign of this “increased awareness” and hopes the festival can contribute to that effect. Wilson sees the true significance of Earth Day as a day “to celebrate the earth and realize that it’s an amazing place and also to recognize and become more informed about how we should treat it.”

So break out your Birkenstocks and mark your calendar (or actually, use iCal, it wastes less paper).