A Synopsis of Earth Day Events Hosted by KSEC Affiliates!

By Destine Grigsby, duPont Manual High School

KSEC tabling at EKU's Earth Day Festival

The Eastern Kentucky University Office of Sustainability hosted an Earth week celebration. On the 20th, EKU hosted a picnic and ceremony at Elmwood park, with guest speakers and even activities like tree climbing. On the 21st, they hosted a tree planting at Taylor Fork Ecological Area. Their biggest event was on April 26th when they hosted an Earth Day festival at Powell Plaza with live local music and free heirloom tomato seedlings. Over a dozen environmental organizations were showcased at the festival including the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition, Lucky Clover Farms, EKU Green Crew, and EKU Agriculture. The festival had a range of sustainable activities including a cardboard fort building event and a rain barrel workshop hosted by Bluegrass Greensource. Following the workshop, volunteers built 10 rain barrels, which will be placed around campus and used to collect rain for watering campus gardens. There was a cardboard fort building event that highlighted recycling.

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At duPont Manual High School, one student group hosted a booth at ThunderBlast, an event hosted by the Kentucky Science Center during Thunder Over Louisville that ironically occurred on Earth Day. The purpose of ThunderBlast is to give families a safe environment to not only watch the fireworks and air shows, but also learn about science. DuPont Manual’s World Wildlife Club hosted an activity booth that educated children on the effects that oil spills have on marine life. Despite poor weather, ThunderBlast still had a great turnout and Manual was able to teach over 3,000 kids about oil spills!

Murray State also hosted an Earth week celebration. On the 17th they hosted a puppy kissing booth where they partnered with Murray-Calloway Animal Shelter and educated students on the effect spaying and neutering pets has on the environment. On the following Tuesday, they set up a DIY herb garden and taught people about native plants. The Environmental Student Society hosted a climate change panel where professors discussed the implications of climate change on Wednesday. The next day, they hosted a hemp education fair as well as a bake sale fundraiser. And to finish off their very busy week M.E.S.S. decorated and gave away reusable bags to students around campus.​

MESS decorating and handing out reusable bags for one of their Earth Day events.