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Earth Day 2024

Celebrate Earth Day with the WCSU Libraries!

Celebrate With Us on April 22nd!

Full itinerary below!!

9am - 11am

9am - 11am


Electronics Recycling - Organized by Property Management 
Do you have old iPhones hanging around? What about that broken laptop? An old printer that just doesn't print anymore? Stop in and drop off your used electronics and WCSU's own Kevin Koschel will destroy/demolish/disassemble them for proper recycling! BONUS: For each electronic item you drop off you'll receive one raffle ticket to enter a drawing to win four tickets to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk! 
Click here to view list of acceptable items. 
Location: Haas Library (midtown) & Young Library (westside classroom building).

 

10AM! Flower Planting with President Singh

Join President Singh outside of Berkshire Hall to kick off a campus beautification
and flower planting program around midtown campus! Dress for getting your hands dirty.
All equipment, plants, and supervision will be provided by the grounds staff.
Location: Quad space in front of Berkshire Hall.

Plant Swap - Organized by Rainy Day Paperback Exchange
Come pick up a plant and maybe a mystery read!
Location: Ruth A. Haas Library. 

 

Food Pantry Donations - All day
Support the WCSU food pantry by bringing shelf-table items to the libraries! For each item you bring you'll receive one ticket to enter a drawing to win four tickets to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk! Click here to see the most needed items. Location: Haas Library & Young Library.
 

Seed Balls - All day craft
Create seed balls to toss in your garden! Using a bit of clay, some dirt, a pinch of compost starter, and a packet of wildflower seeds create a couple of seed balls to help our local pollinators out this year! Location: Haas Library.


Up-Cycled Origami - All day craft
Create some beautiful origami flowers and animals using paper we've recycled from discarded books! Location: Haas Library & Young Library.

11am - 12pm Climate Science AMA

11am - 12pm

How we will survive on a warming planet
Dr. Mitch Wagener, Professor of Biology

Humans are part of nature, organisms within ecosystems. When extreme events occur in nature, they affect us, along with moose, flying squirrels, and all the rest. Enough information is available for us to begin to understand these things. Acceptance, understanding, concern, and finally action are the steps towards addressing the problems we have. I believe that we must clean up our own messes, just as our parents told us to do.  I believe that our grandchildren have the right to a livable future. Location: Haas Library, 1st floor

Dr. Mitch Wagener has been teaching ecology and climate change courses, and related courses at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury since 1996. In 2019, he received the Aquarion Environmental Champion Award, Individual Communication category. That same year Dr. Wagener received an official citation from the Connecticut General Assembly for his efforts in climate change education and community service. His research interests include the impact of historical events—such as the Industrial Revolution—on the environment.

Mitch began life in the Ozarks and attending high school in Branson, Missouri. After spending a year as an exchange student in Chiang Mai, Thailand, he attended the University of Missouri, where he completed an undergrad degree in Fisheries and Wildlife. After college he moved to Fairbanks, Alaska to attend graduate school. Mitch received a masters degree in Stream Ecology and a doctorate in Soil Ecology during his 13 years in Alaska. There too, he met the lovely Rita Kabali, a native of Uganda, East Africa, to whom he has now been married 39 years. They have two lively daughters, Rohanna (a history teacher in New Haven) and Danika (a nurse in Boston). They also have two grandchildren, Leon, who is six years old and Soraya, 3 months.

Mitch enjoys—among other things—watching his grandkids grow up and explaining climate change to the public.

 

12pm - 2pm

12pm - 2pm

 

Permaculture Garden Tours - Hosted by Roots & Shoots
Did you know we have a permaculture garden on the midtown campus? The mission is to reconnect our community with the land, understand where our food comes from and how it gets to our plates, and learn about healthy and humane eating. Location: Meet at Haas Library and walk over to Science Building.

 

 

Flower pot painting and seed planting - organized by Pre-Collegiate & Access Programs
Inspired by the garden tour? Stop by to decorate a clay pot and plant a seed to take home! 
Location: Midtown Quad in front of Warner Hall

 


Food Pantry Donations - All day
Support the WCSU food pantry by bringing shelf-table items to the libraries! For each item you bring you'll receive one ticket to enter a drawing to win four tickets to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk!  Click here to see the most needed items. Location: Haas & Young Library.

Seed Balls - All day craft
Create seed balls to toss in your garden! Using a bit of clay, some dirt, a pinch of compost starter, and a packet of wildflower seeds create a couple of seed balls to help our local pollinators out this year! Location: Haas Library.


Up-Cycled Origami - All day craft
Create some beautiful origami flowers and animals using paper we've recycled from discarded books! Location: Haas Library & Young Library.

2pm - 3pm Jane Goodall Center AMA

2pm - 3pm

Jane Goodall Center and Challenges facing home gardeners
Dr. Hannah Reynolds, Associate Professor of Biology

Learn more about the history and development of the Jane Goodall Center, and how climate change is creating challenges for home gardeners.

  • Location: Ruth A. Haas Library, first floor

3pm - 5pm

3pm - 5pm

Seedling Kit Giveaway - Roots & Shoots Club

Location: Ruth A. Haas Library. Further details TBA

 

Food Pantry Donations - All day
Support the WCSU food pantry by bringing shelf-table items to the libraries! For each item you bring you'll receive one ticket to enter a drawing to win four tickets to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk!  Click here to see the most needed items. Location: Haas Library & Young Library.

Seed Balls - All day craft
Create seed balls to toss in your garden! Using a bit of clay, some dirt, a pinch of compost starter, and a packet of wildflower seeds create a couple of seed balls to help our local pollinators out this year! Location: Haas Library.


Up-Cycled Origami - All day craft
Create some beautiful origami flowers and animals using paper we've recycled from discarded books! Location: Haas Library & Young Library.

5pm - 7pm Documentary, Discussion, & Dinner

5pm - 7pm

Dinner - Sustainably sourced meal by Sodexo.
Join us in the newly renovated Berkshire Dining Hall for a special Earth Day dinner prepared by our campus food service, complete with "dirt cups" for dessert! Location: Berkshire Dining Hall. Cost: $11.50 for faculty, staff, and community; WCSU students free. Price includes documentary viewing. REGISTER AND PURCHASE DINNER HERE. 

 

Documentary - Thin Ice: The Inside Story of Climate Science
"In recent years climate science has come under increasing attack, so concerned geologist Simon Lamb grabbed his camera and set out to explore the inside story of climate research. For over three years he followed scientists from a wide range of disciplines at work in the Arctic, Antarctic, Southern Ocean, New Zealand, Europe and the United States. They talk about their work, their hopes and fears with a rare candor and directness, resulting in an intimate portrait of the global community of researchers racing to understand our planet's changing climate and provide a compelling case for rising CO2 as the main cause." Visit thiniceclimate.org to learn more about the film and the efforts to fund it's creation. Location: Berkshire Dining Hall. REGISTRATION REQUIRED. 

 

Tesla won't fix climate change
Dr. Manoj Misra, Associate Professor of Sociology
Dr. Manoj Misra is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Western Connecticut State University. He earned his PhD from the University of Alberta, Canada. He previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Development at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Republic of Korea, and a visiting research fellow at Heidelberg University, Germany. His research articles have been published in journals including Climate and Development, Journal of Agrarian Change, Agriculture and Human Values, and Journal of Contemporary Asia. His research interests are agrarian change and food sovereignty, energy politics and climate justice, and development dispossession in South Asia. Dr. Misra may be reached at misram@wcsu.edu.

Location: Berkshire Dining Hall. 

Food Pantry Donations
Before heading in to dinner, drop off a non-perishable food item to support the WCSU food pantry. For each item you bring you'll receive one ticket to enter a drawing to win four tickets to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk! Click here to see the most needed items. Location: Berkshire Lobby

Citizen Science Projects

Want to get more involved? Consider a Citizen Science project from SciStarter!

Recommended projects: