Students carried plants, ate food with friends and received free sustainable goods. Vendors and organizations packed Fairfield Way at the University of Connecticut for an early Earth Day celebration on Wednesday, April 16.
Earth Day Spring Fling is a festival that began in 2008 and is co-hosted by the UConn Office of Sustainability and UConn Dining Services.
The event featured ice cream from the UConn Dairy Bar, eco-themed cupcakes, strawberry shortcake and a zero-waste barbecue. The barbecue was sponsored by Dining Services, providing vegan and vegetarian options, as well as locally-sourced food. To avoid waste, a dish return was located nearby, using reusable dishware only.
“I think it is really important to have events like this because it helps create connections between the local community and UConn, so students can learn about organizations that are engaging in environmental work in the area and across the state,” said Jackie Flaherty, a sixth-semester marketing and urban and community studies major and a sustainability intern at the Office of Sustainability.
Many departments, clubs and organizations were also present at the event. The UConn Library was promoting environmental books and gave out seeds for planting. The Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (CTASLA) was one of many organizations present at the event.
“We are trying to promote visibility of the field,” said Brendan Pugmire, an eighth-semester landscape architecture major and the president of the CTASLA. “[Landscape Architecture] is a growing profession; it is officially STEM as of last year. It is becoming more and more important as the climate gets worse.”
Alongside this club was the UConn Thrift Den—a free thrift store which promotes style and sustainability, Horticulture Club, Beekeeping Club and Innovate Labs.
Innovate Labs reaches out to students, clubs and classes to teach students new skills while also practicing community outreach. They are launching a new initiative, called “Seeds to Sustain.”
“‘Seeds to Sustain’ is a nine-week program where students get to learn about how to fight food insecurity on an individual level by using hydroponics,” said Lucy Ledesma, a sixth-semester management and engineering for management major and outreach specialist at Innovate Labs.
“[Students] actually get to take the [hydroponic] system home at the end of the program, along with supplies for another year of growing,” she said.
Activities such as goat yoga and UConn’s annual Arbor Day celebration with the ceremonial class tree planting also took place at Earth Day Spring Fling.
The tree is planted as a tradition to welcome the newest undergraduate class and acknowledge that UConn is a certified Tree Campus. The term “Tree Campus” was created by the Arbor Day Foundation to recognize and promote the positive impact of trees on college campuses, as well as in other schools.
“This tradition has been going on for a long time at UConn, so it is really exciting to see that UConn, which started as an agricultural school, has been prioritizing sustainability for so long,” said Flaherty. “We started off by planting trees and now we have been able to expand sustainability efforts.”
The planting of the class tree took place next to the Budds Building. The freshman class at UConn selected the green gable tupelo as their tree to plant. Attending the event were students and faculty of the Office of Sustainability.
The ceremony included burying student wishes. People at the event placed slips of paper with anonymous wishes into the mulch surrounding the tree after reading them aloud to one another.
The planting of the class tree was a wholesome highlight of the diverse Earth Day Spring Fling.
“It’s a great time to celebrate all the hard work we have done this year for efforts with sustainability and the environment,” said Flaherty