Office of Sustainability hosts Earth Day Festival to celebrate the environment

Becca Cooper said.

Frisbees flying, music bumping, free plants and T-shirts - what more could a college student want on a beautiful day in April? On Wednesday, the Office of Sustainability partnered with the Campus Events Board for their annual Earth Day Festival at the Student Union Plaza. The festival is one of the many events that is part of the Earth Week celebration, happening from April 17-22.

The Student Union Plaza housed a sea of booths spanning from on-campus organizations to local Knoxville businesses and nature preserves. CJ’s Taco Truck was on site as a food option, and the university’s college radio station, WUTK 90.3 The Rock, provided music for the event.

They were also offering out stickers to whoever wanted one. Students were free to wander from table to table, taking free handouts and participating in various games and activities for prizes.

VOLS 2 VOLS, a peer education program within the Center of Health Education and Wellness, was present at the festival in the most ornate of booth set-ups. Rather than a simple table or E-Z Up canopy like the rest of the event’s participants, the VOLS 2 VOLS program set up shop in a pavilion made up of PVC pipes and draped signage and was urging passersby to stop for a free water bottle. Sunglasses and frisbees were also up for grabs, but only if students were willing to spin their wheel and answer a question re- lated to sustainability and the environment.

“Usually ... the prizes get a lot of people to come and even though the questions aren’t that hard, it kind of gets them to think about it (the environment) and bring awareness to it for sure,” VOLS 2 VOLS Health Educator

UT RecSports also hosted a booth alongside Outdoor Pursuits, UTOP, where students could not only find out information regarding equipment rentals on campus, but also had the opportunity to have their bikes worked on, courtesy of the on-site bike shop.

Senior nutrition major Ella Grace Lowrance was wowed by the portable bike tools.

“Of course, they have this shop out on the day that I don’t ride my bike to class, but I think it’s really cool that they can fix anyone’s right here and right now,” Lowrance said. “It also encourages people to ride their bikes to school as a form of exercise and it’s better for the environment. This whole event has given me so many ideas for places to go on nice weekends. I’m glad so many people showed up this afternoon.”

Other organizations and businesses present at the Earth Day Festival included UT Gardens, Mast General Store, Big Orange Pantry and Ijams Nature Center, with several of them giving away other rewards like cutting boards and succulents. The next event on the Earth Week roster will be a sustainable fashion show on Thursday, April 20 from 6-8 p.m. with the Office of Sustainability having an array of thrifted and handmade clothing items on display at the HSS plaza.