This week Gathering Resources to be Educated about our Environment and Nature, a student organization at Eastern Michigan University, presents Green Week 2010.
“It is a week promoting environmental education and action within EMU and the surrounding communities… we want people to get involved,” said Natalie Young, one of three 2009-2010 GREEN Team Program Coordinator.
All events are free, open to the public and eligible for Learning Beyond the Classroom (LBC) credit.
The week-long event kicks off at 4:00 p.m. today in room 301 of the Student Center with the third Annual Vegan/Vegetarian Challenge Kickoff, including a screening of the eye-opening documentary film “Food, Inc.”
After the film, attendees will learn how they may make a difference by embracing an alternative culinary lifestyle. Attendees will challenge themselves to eat either a vegan or vegetarian diet for four days.
“We generally recommend the vegetarian diets for regular meat eaters and vegan diets for those that are, or were previously, vegetarians,” said Chris Halliwell, another of the GREEN Team Program Coordinators.
At 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Student Center Auditorium, there will be a documentary screening of “No Impact Man,” which follows non-fiction writer and blogger Colin Beavan and his family during their year-long experiment to have zero impact on the environment.
Immediately after the film there will be a brief presentation by EMU’s Energy and Sustainability Manager Steven Moore on ways EMU is reducing its environmental impact.
Wednesday will be a day filled with volunteering within the Ypsilanti community in the morning and crafts in the evening. The GREEN team has organized the “Ypsi Food Co-op Volunteer Day” from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers will meet at the Starbucks in the Student Center at 8:45 a.m. to carpool to the Co-op. However, volunteers may travel to 312 North River Street (East of Sidetrack) under their own power as well. Attendees may come late and leave early as their schedule allows.
From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Phelps/Sellers Lounge, there will be EcoArts for the creatively inclined. Participants can make mini-recycle centers to place in their dorm rooms or apartments and homemade plant pots. GREEN will provide all materials, including dirt and seeds for the plants. There will also be refreshments.
“EcoArts is our attempt to get people to realize that their recycled materials can easily be turned into things that they can use on a daily basis,” Young said.
Thursday’s EcoBash and EcoChats will be fun events for attendees to learn about GREEN and how they may join. The festivities, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Phelps/Sellers Lounge, will include games like “Trashketball,” which is exactly what it sounds like, and the GREEN scavenger hunt.
In addition, in the EcoChat, EMU graduate assistant Elizabeth Palmer will lecture on and discuss Biomimicry and Sustainability.
To close out the Vegan/Vegetarian Challenge there will be Vegan cooking lessons, between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., in the Roosevelt Hall Kitchen. This year’s theme will be International Foods and will feature recipes from Ethiopia, Malta and more.
The final event of Green Week will be the labeling of campus storm drains between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to promote the health of the Huron River and provide EMU with updated topographical maps.
Volunteers will meet in room 352 of the Student Center and may leave early if necessary. However, volunteers who arrive after 11 a.m. may find an empty room as GREEN is excited to begin the event; it is vital that volunteers are on time to this event.
Green week promises to leave an environmentally conscience impact on students and the surrounding community and, whether it be for volunteering or flower pots, GREEN is inviting everyone to be “green” this week.
For a complete schedule of events, please visit www.emich.edu/vision or search for “GREEN” through www.emustudentorgs.com.
