The Office of Sustainability held its Earth Day celebration on the Peace Quad on Friday, April 24, connecting students and the campus community with the environment and promoting safe, sustainable practices.

The office welcomed local and student environmental organizations to share their goals and messages with the campus community. Notable organizations such as the Center for Civic Engagement, Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments, the Q Center, Healthy Campus Initiative and the Binghamton Up-Cycle Project were there to celebrate.

“Specifically for Earth Fest, the Office of Sustainability doesn’t get a ton of opportunities to connect to the campus-wide community and what we’re trying to strive for right now is engagement with the community,” said Elyse Rogers, a student assistant in the Office of Sustainability and a senior majoring in environmental science. “This is easily our biggest and best event to do this. Having students come here and be able to interact with us, being able to teach them and also be like, no, the University cares about this — it’s a great way for us to connect these students and the outside community as a whole.”

Attendees participated in Earth Day festivities through activities such as jeans and tote-bag making, upcycling crafts and a clothing swap. Beyond promoting community, these activities promoted choosing sustainability in a fun, engaging way.

Mims Harrington, a bachelor of social work intern at the Q Center and a senior majoring in social work, described the Q Center’s work to promote sustainability, noting how events like the Earth Day celebration promote a safe and sustainable environment for all.

“Today we’re talking about sustainable clothing practices,” Harrington said. “So we have some information on the textile industry, we also have free clothing available. We’re currently highlighting our Gender Bender Closet, which is a donations-based anti-waste initiative and our goal is to provide gender affirming clothing, free to students, and to limit textile waste.”

The Q Center also provided an upcycling activity, where attendees colored patches they cut out from upcycled clothing taken from the Gender Bender Closet.

More organizations and activities like these were spread along the Peace Quad, all sharing information about the environment and the importance of choosing sustainable practices. Attendees did more than just walk around and listen — they actively engaged in practices that taught them how to foster a safer environment.

“We’re really trying to promote sustainability,” said Kira Hawes, outreach coordinator at the Office of Sustainability. “And the biggest message is that sustainability touches everyone, from faculty, to admin, to staff, to students, to people who do the grounds — sustainability is something we should all be caring about and it’s something that everyone can integrate into their lives in a small way.”