Students learn sustainability at Earth Day event

The festival featured environmental groups promoting green lifestyles.

Dayana Lucero news contributor

Binghamton University hosted its annual Earth Day festival last Friday to raise awareness for sustainable living.

Rooted in the practice of zero-waste — a set of principles that focus on waste prevention in all aspects of day-to-day life — the festival gave students the chance to learn about the importance of sustainable living from a wide range of student organizations, academic departments and offices that focus on diverse environmental issues. Participants gathered on BU’s Spine from 11 a.m. to

2 p.m.

Martin Larocca, the resource recovery manager for the Office of Recycling and Resource Management, said his office has been organizing the annual Earth Day Festival for over a decade in order to engage the campus community on sustainability topics.

Larocca explained that becoming environmentally conscious can decrease the amount of unsustainable practices people engage in.

“An example of [this] would be reducing the amount of objects or materials people purchase or [when] purchasing reusable items,” Larocca wrote in an email. “Changing these spending habits can reduce the amount of material being sent to landfills, and if enough people change their purchasing habits they can change how goods are manufactured, reducing harmful impacts on the planet related to production.”

Among the many student organizations tabling at the event was the Sustainability Hub, a space that aims to foster a campus-wide value of sustainability. Located in the Science Library, the virtual and physical space hosts initiatives and promotes various organizations, including TerraCycle — a zero-waste company that sponsors recycling programs for hard-to-recycle items — and a seed library where students can get seeds for free throughout the year.

Jaqueline Jergensen, a student assistant at the Sustainability Hub and a senior majoring in environmental science, described some of the initiatives the hub hopes to implement.

“This past year, we’ve been organizing a Sustainability Hub interest group so we can create a space for students interested in environmental issues so they can come and discuss plans or goals,” Jergensen said. “Like how we got buses chartered to the [Broome County] Farmers Market and the Sustainability Fest we had in March.”

Multiple groups tabling at the event sought volunteers interested in helping with future initiatives.

Hailey Faurot, a freshman majoring in environmental science, said she found Earth Day Festival to be effective in raising awareness about sustainability.

“There were a lot of giveaways, like a pencil you could plant once you were done using it,” Faurot said. “I think it serves as a reminder that all our actions matter and how we should work toward living a more sustainable lifestyle.”

The Office of Recycling and Resource Management has plans of sponsoring a series of panel talks discussing campus sustainability, as well as other initiatives. Currently, the office is also developing a paint recycling program that makes use of old paint containers from projects around campus.

Larocca said it is important to hold events such as these over the course of the academic year, not only during Earth Month.

“The more we can educate and inform the campus community, the more likely they are to engage with sustainability efforts and make them successful,” Larocca wrote.

Over spring break, Binghamton University finally announced it would raise minimum stipends for full-time, 10-month doctoral students from $17,000 to $21,000 in fall 2023. Doctoral students already receiving stipends above $21,000 and will receive a $1,000 raise. While this raise is a big step forward, we hope the University will continue this momentum.

The University is — no doubt — in a tough spot. SUNY has been strained by years of underfunding, and BU’s administration must tap into its internal budget to fund increases in stipends. New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul has a monumentous task ahead of her as a $160 million deficit looms over the SUNY system, but any significant changes