WYOMISSING, Pa. — Driven by a strong commitment to the environment and sustainability, the Penn State Berks Sustainability Team will host an Earth Fest celebration on Earth Day, Monday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Perkins Student Center Lawn and surrounding area. This event is free and open to the public.
Earth Fest will feature more than 20 fun and educational learning stations, activities, demonstrations, special events and prizes. Stations will be staffed by students, Sustainability Team members and local organizations, and will focus on topics ranging from saving bees, to reducing waste, to food and waste composting, clean energy and more. Student volunteers and student clubs will hold demonstrations, including the Penn State Berks Chemical Society with a paper recycling and chemistry demonstration; the Student PSEA (Pennsylvania State Education Association) with a recycled art project; and the Berks Dance Team with a display focused on ocean waste. The Penn State Berks Greenhouse will display ongoing projects at the college.
Local nonprofit organizations, including the City of Reading, Berks Gas Truth, Citizens Climate Lobby, Reading 100 and the Schuylkill River Greenways, will also have educational displays at Earth Fest. The Penn State Cooperative Extension’s Master Watershed Stewards will be on hand to help attendees learn how to conserve water with rain gardens, rain barrels, downspout planters and more. A raffle-ticket drawing for eco-friendly prizes will take place from 12:45 to 1:15 p.m.
Attendees will also have an opportunity to participate in activities such as helping to build a greenhouse wall made of bottles, donating used books to benefit Glenside Elementary School, and learning about the history of environmental hazards such as forest fires, harmful herbicides and coal mining, just to name a few.
Mahsa Kazempour, associate professor of science education, who leads the Sustainability Team and is directing Earth Fest, said that this program, and other sustainability-related events and activities throughout the year, reflect the increasing importance of sustainability issues for the University and the comprehensive integration of Penn State’s Sustainability Strategic Plan into research, teaching, outreach and operation at Penn State Berks.
Penn State Berks Earth Fest is supported by the Penn State Berks Sustainability Team and funding from the Hillkirk Family Program Endowment for Ethics and Sustainability and the Penn State Sustainability Institute. For more information, contact Kazempour at 610-396-6312 or via email at MUK30@psu.edu.