Happy Mother's Day, Earth!

By Brittany Benjamin

As students scaled the rock wall, sat for face painting and stood in line for tie dye, it seemed as if a childhood carnival had landed in the middle of Santa Clara Mall.

Yet, it was the giant tarp sitting in the middle of the grass that gave the event away as something else. The tarp, covered in recyclable botles and cans, was a clear indication that all the other festivities were part of the Earth Day celebration.

The celebration was hosted by the Grass Roots Environmental Efforts Now club and was open to all students Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Adopting the slogan, "Sustainability: It's up to US," the event was geared toward emphasizing students' individual roles in promoting sustainability at the university and in society as a whole.

Groups like the Recycling Club, the Green Party, the GREEN Club and the Solar Decathlon team manned tables around the lawn, promoting a greener lifestyle.

Behind one of the students' favorite tables was Joe Peace, an artist who makes and sells clay peace necklaces for a living.

Students chose from a variety of different clay pieces that have the word "peace" translated into various languages.

"It's been a great way to symbolically unify people," said Peace of returning to Santa Clara for his third consecutive Earth Day. "I hope each person who experiences the work will create peace in their own lives."

While these peace necklaces are popular among students, sustainability is still an issue for all members of the university.

"We are a work in progress," said Lindsey Cromwell, sustainability coordinator for the Environmental Studies Institute, who tabled at the Earth Day event.

"We need to figure out how to make it easy for people to go green," she said.

Cromwell said one of the biggest problems with recycling at Santa Clara is contamination. Contamination occurs when articles of trash are thrown into a recycling receptacle or vice versa.

Cromwell gave one example of how an open soda bottle can ruin an entire recycling receptacle. The liquid, which leaks and contaminates the paper, prohibits any of the material from being recycled.

While Cromwell still believes Santa Clara needs to take more action in order to become sustainable, those involved with Earth Day 2008 deemed it a success.

"There hasn't been a ton of people, but it's definitely been fun to hang out," said Katherine Mardula, leader of communications for the 2009 Solar Decathlon.

Contact Brittany Benjamin at (408) 551-1918 or brbenjamin@scu.edu.