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Titan Green Shines Through Earth Week Events

April 8, 2022

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Highlighting sustainability efforts on campus, Illinois Wesleyan University will host Earth Week from Saturday, April 9 to Sunday, April 17 featuring ecological events.

Taking Titan green to the next level, the campus community is invited to join in the celebration through daily ecocentric activities in various locations around campus. Ranging from a field day on The Eckley Quad to cleaning up the Constitution Trail, all events are free and open to the public. 

“Each event was created very intentionally to highlight a different aspect of sustainability and our relationships to our environment. We have some events oriented strictly towards community-building and raising awareness, while others are more based in promoting better behaviors or personal reflection,” said Alex Dawson ’23, the Environmental Sustainability and Justice Fellow for the Office of Residential Life.

The week of themed events were spearheaded by several groups on campus including Sierra Student Coalition, Peace Garden, Office of Residential Life and Student Senate. 

“Usually we all have our own unique projects, but when we started communicating more consistently, we had the manpower to do something bigger and hopefully more effective,” said Dawson. “Earth Week is also a great way to showcase all our eco-groups on campus. It should also be noted that we have an amazing committee of students from outside these RSOs that have been a critical part of the production process.”

Earth Week is not limited to the campus community, but aims to integrate Titans into the larger Bloomington-Normal community through the inclusion of local organizations and projects.

“When it comes to confronting environmental issues, community collaboration is everything. Without a shared dedication to sustainability, we cannot make real progress,” said Dawson. “Specifically with our Small Business Fair (planned on April 13), reaching out to the larger Bloomington-Normal community was very intentional. Promoting buying local instead of contributing to large corporations or ordering objects from far away already has significant environmental impacts, but it also helps build that community which is so critical for sustainable success.”

Dawson hopes the event will raise awareness about sustainability issues within the community, leading to more student involvement and passion for eco-friendly efforts on campus.

“Earth Week is a great starting point for building community in that way, and building that foundation for success,” said Dawson.

earth week at iwu 2022 The events for the week are as follows:

  • Saturday, April 9, 8:30 p.m. : Movie Night on the Eckley Quad
  • Sunday, April 10, 12 p.m. : Constitution Trail Clean Up (Sponsored by Student Senate). Meet in the Shirk Center parking lot.
  • Monday, April 11: Earth Week Bingo
  • Tuesday, April 12, 6:30 p.m. : Meditation on the Eckley Quad with Stefen Robinson from the Bloomington-Normal Zen Buddhist Group
  • Wednesday, April 13, 11 a.m.: Small Business Fair on the Eckley Quad
  • Thursday, April 14, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.: Cookies & Earth Week ’22 stickers in Dugout, Memorial Center
  • Friday, April 15, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.: Donation Drive Wrap Up in Dugout for Project Oz
  • Saturday, April 16: Social Media Saturday
  • Sunday, April 17, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.: Field Day on the Eckley Quad (Sponsored by the Council for Inclusion and Awareness, the Dean of Students Office and the Peace Garden)

For more questions about Earth Week contact Alex Dawson at adawson1@iwu.edu.

By Kailee Galloway ’23