Students line up to exchange recyclable items for a free T-shirt displaying a green ‘Pony Up’ logo during the Earth Day Celebration yesterday afternoon in the Hughes-Trigg Commons. (Lindsey Perkins)
Students were treated to free food, prizes and environmental education exhibits Tuesday, at the environmental awareness program in the Hughes-Trigg commons. Students for a Better Society, as well as the environmental science program and RLSH put on the program in celebration of Earth Day, entitling their campaign “Pony up for Earth Day.”
The main focus of the campaign was to create environmental awareness, with a large focus on simple things that students can do to become more environmentally aware and efficient.
To further the objectives of the event, the Campus Planning and Plant Operations energy management division sponsored the distribution of low-flow showerheads to students.
Michael Paul, director of SMU’s Energy Management, said that the low-flow showerheads in addition to creating the break in water bills for students, also serve as a reminder.
“We want to raise awareness that water must be conserved, as well as energy,” Paul said.
In addition to handing out free low flow showerheads at the event, students were given the chance to trade recyclable items in for “Pony Up for Earth Day” T-shirts, to promote the concept of recycling to students. In addition, students were shown other small steps they can take to help make a large collective difference in the environment.
According to Tiana Lightfoot, environmental activist, and part organizer of the earth week events, “If students want to make a positive difference they can use less – go for a walk and use less gas.”
“[Students] can buy a canvas or mesh reusable shopping bags and use less plastic, turn off lights, TVs, computers, etc. to use less energy,” she said. “Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth and use less water, all the little things add up, and if everyone did them then we could make a big difference.”
Cori Cusker, the face of recycling and sustainability for RLSH, hopes that students will take the goals of the program a step further and implement them beyond just Earth Day.
“I encourage everyone to continue thinking about and acting on these issues once Earth Day is past,” Cusker said. “This should be a regular occurring conversation that you have with yourself and your family about what you can do differently and not just something you do one month or one day out of the year.”
Earth day is officially Tuesday, but the earth week campaign here at SMU started over the weekend and hopes to continue to promote environmental awareness throughout the rest of the week.
The overall message that Cusker, as well as other organizers of the event, hoped that students took away was the notion that no matter how small, they could make a difference.
“[We] would like the whole SMU community to realize that everyone has the power to make a difference without feeling pressured to make huge lifestyle changes,” Cusker said. “Changing or adjusting simple things in our lives can have minimal impact on how we live, but can have an amazing cumulative impact on how future generations are able to live.”
