By
Braden Clark
The
Utah State University Student Association, or USUSA, is celebrating Earth Day
with the students of Utah State starting at 9 a.m. Friday morning. All
throughout the day, events were planned by the USUSA.
Starting
at 9 a.m. booths were set up on the campus’ Quad, and students were informed
about the ways their campus helps sustain the environment they live in.
“I
think Earth Day is unique and super special, because it’s like the celebration
of all the work we’ve done all year,” said Emily Blake, an environmental studies
student at Utah State who works in the universities sustainability office. “The
office does a lot of things throughout the year, and Earth Day is a way people
can celebrate the it.”
Along
with all the events planned for Earth Day students took the initiative on their
social media sites to celebrate Earth Day.
“When
one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the
world,” said Braxton Moon over Twitter.
“Go
shawty, it’s your Earth Day. We gonna party like it’s your Earth Day,” said
Tiffany Roedel over Twitter.
Some
students managed to wake up to catch the sunrise in the wind caves up Logan Canyon.
“As
you can see winter is shadowing away in the background only to tell us one
thing. Spring has arrived,” said Sunny Patel on his Instagram.
Along
with tweeting their own original tweets a few students retweeted Neil deGrasse
Tyson as he reflected over Twitter.
“We’re
short, so Mountains seem tall. We’re mortal, so Earth seems eternal. Our spacecraft
are slow, so the Universe seems vast,” Tyson tweeted. “’Save the Earth’ really
means ‘Save the humans’ or ‘Save the Life on Earth’. Earth the planet will
outlast all extinctions.”
Students
were also encouraged by USU Dining Services to use #PartOfTheSolution on their
social media sites as they take part in reducing plastic waste, and use
refillable water bottles.
“Today
we are showing students all the things we do to showcase how we reduce waste on
campus,” said Tiffany Moss, a marketer for USU Dining Services.
From
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. students were asked to take a pledge to reduce plastic waste,
and received a green cup that they can use to refill anywhere on campus.
“I
think it’s really cool how Utah State is showing all of our support over social
media,” Moss said. “I’ve enjoyed seeing all the ways students are keeping the
Earth clean, or just enjoying the Earth on this day.”
More
events follow later in the day, and starting at 1:30 students can participate with
“Yoga on the Quad.” Following Yoga on the Quad, students can join in a service
project at 2:30 at Aggie Blue Bikes and that will last until 5 p.m. tonight.
After the service project Utah State will conclude its Earth Day with a
barbeque and games at First Dam.
“I
think Utah State is moving in a really cool direction,” Blake said. “President Stan
Albrecht has done a really good job, and has done a lot of great stuff for us.
It’s all uphill from here, and it’s important for students to recognize today
and be thankful for what we have on this campus.”