By Nico MachlittSTAFF WRITER
Students filled Calkins Quad last Wednesday, listening to live music and eating vegan food as a part of annual Earth Day celebrations. Fifteen clubs and community partners orchestrated the event to educate the student body on Earth Day themes like Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and local green initiatives.
Earth Day is a global event that is used to educate people about the importance of keeping the earth clean and safe. Sophomore public relations major Jordan Heiden attended the event for a second year to keep learning about how she can help keep the earth clean.
“I’m really passionate about the environment, and I came to [the] event last year and it had a really big impact on me,” said Heiden. “It made me more aware of everything that goes on in the world and how I can affect it in a positive or negative way. I think it’s really important to spread awareness about all the environmental issues that we face today.”
Student clubs, such as the Sustainability Studies Club, Green Party Club, and the Center for Civic Engagement, as well as community organizations such as Long Island Food Not Bombs, Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives and Food & Water Watch were all in attendance, giving students many opportunities to learn about the environment and interact with community organizers.
Freshman biochemistry major and president of the Green Party Club Liliana Hinojos Madrid likes the awareness Earth Day brings to campus. “Earth Day is really important to us because it raises awareness for what is going on around the world and these are things people normally don’t know about,” she said. “Earlier today a lady was speaking about the effect of nuclear bombs on our environment and that’s something people normally don’t talk about.”
The Earth Day celebration served as more than just an informational seminar; it gave each club and organization a platform to speak about topics that were important to them.
“What we’ve been focusing recently is the legalization of cannabis, both in the hemp and medical field. We have been observing the states of Washington and Colorado and seeing what they have accomplished and seeing how other states can legalize cannabis,” said Hinojos Madrid.
Students not only learned about ways to help the environment, but they were active as well.
Sophomore sustainability studies major and president of the Sustainability Studies Club Sarah Lippmann helped students tie-dye using sustainable dyes. “We’re tie-dying with vegetables so we’re doing a fun craft in a sustainable way that won’t hurt the environment,” said Lippmann. “We’re not using any of the dyes that use chemicals and are bad for the earth, you are just using pure beet or kale juice.”
President of Students for a Greener Hofstra Tsz Hin Tang created notebooks that he was giving to students. “We have been collecting single-sided paper and making them into notebooks,” said Hin Tang. This goes along with his platform of reusing materials that could have gone to waste.
Long Island organizations also played a big part in the Earth Day celebration. Junior social and global studies major Sage Davino and senior sociology, global studies and geography major Eleanore Saintis are Hofstra students working with Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives.
The Long Island organization went to the event with the purpose of listening to students and informing them of a national issue.
“This semester we have been working on the idea of nuclear disarmament and the idea of taking away nuclear weapons to help keep the earth safe,” said Davino.
The United Nations Conference on Nuclear Weapons happened this weekend and student voices needed to be heard, according to Saintis.
“We are talking with students to get them to sign a petition for us to deliver to the United Nations. This is important to show that students really care about the environment,” said Saintis.
Earth Day helped educate the students and faulty leaving them with knowledge that they can spread to their friends and family, while also providing them free food and a welcoming atmosphere.