UW-Stevens Point to offer lots of Earth Week activities, online presentations

Metro Wire Staff

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will celebrate Earth Week beginning April 17.

A mix of outdoor activities, volunteer opportunities, exhibits, and Zoom presentations that focus on sustainability, alternative energy sources, and environmental issues, will be held through April 23.

Among the outdoor activities for Earth Week on campuses and in the community (face coverings and physical distancing are required on campus):

• View a “Bale Maze” recycling display April 17-May 7 at the Specht Forum/Sundial at UW-Stevens Point. This will also be the location for “Pedal for University Fossil Fuel Divestment” on Monday, April 19, from 2-3 p.m.

• Help plant apple, tart cherry and plum trees at Bukolt Park from noon-4 p.m.  Monday, April 19, with Central Rivers Farmshed, UW-Stevens Point’s Students for Sustainability and city of Stevens Point Forestry department. Sign up at Farmshed volunteers

• “Chalk the Walk for Earth Day” on Thursday, April 22, with chalk art at:
  • UW-Stevens Point Old Main, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
  • UWSP at Wausau’s main entrance, 8-4:30 p.m.
  • UWSP at Marshfield’s Everett Roehl STEM Center, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

• The Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum is hosting “Sarcastic Plastic? Fantastic” and “STEM Sprouts Grass Heads” exhibits for children at 10 a.m. Thursday and Friday, April 22-23

•  The annual Eco-Fair will be offered via Zoom from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, April 21, with a focus on “Soil, the Foundation of Life.” It is sponsored by the Environmental Educators and Naturalists Association (EENA).

Other free events presented on Zoom include:

• Monday, April 19, 6:30 p.m. – “Environmental Justice Coffee and Culture”
• Tuesday, April 20, noon – “How the Potty Trained Us,” Shawn Shafner of the Poopcast Project
• Wednesday, April 21, noon – “Repairing Native Perspectives on Environmental Movements,” Marin Webster, American Indian educator
• Thursday, April 22, noon – “How to Make the Environmental Movement Anti-Racist,” Wawa Gatheru, environmental justice advocate
• Thursday, April 22, 6:30 p.m. – Earth Day Trivia Night, hosted by UW-Stevens Point’s Museum of Natural History

Earth Day was founded on April 22, 1970, by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin to raise environmental awareness and protection. UWSP has held educational environmental events each year since.

The school has a long history of sustainability education and practice. On April 8, UW-Stevens Point joined 75 colleges and universities across the nation in signing a letter that urges the Biden-Harris administration to adopt a target of at least 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

For more information or registration for these events, visit https://www.uwsp.edu/sustainability/Pages/Earth-Week.aspx or the UW-Stevens Point Office of Sustainability on Facebook.