Friday, April 22, 2016

Utah State University goes green on Earth Day

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.”

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