Earth Week at Penn is currently underway, featuring dozens of events hosted by student groups and Philadelphia organizations to raise environmental awareness.
Penn has organized Philadelphia’s Earth Day gathering since 1970, an annual tradition that has transformed into a week-long celebration with a diverse calendar of events campus-wide. Earth Week — running from April 21-27 — aims to get students and the broader Penn community actively involved in cross-disciplinary events that educate and encourage action.
Penn Sustainability Manager Noah Swistak said that everyone can find an event that not only interests them but also teaches them something new.
“There are so many different events and conversations and things to engage with that I think everybody could find an event on a topic that they're unfamiliar with,” Swistak told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
This year’s Earth Week theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” shares the same message as the national Earth Day theme. According to Swistak, the theme’s emphasis on personal empowerment and choice felt “so right for the moment.”
“There's a link there with this feeling of agency, being able to do something yourself or in collaboration with others,” he added. “It's in our hands. It's within our ability to do this and to make change.”
GreenFest — which will take place on April 25 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. — is a yearly Earth Week tradition organized by the Penn Environmental Group in collaboration with the Penn Sustainability Office that brings together environmental initiatives from both the University and broader Philadelphia communities.
With the goal of “fostering environmental awareness,” GreenFest allows students to actively engage with different organizations through tabling and hands-on activities, according to College sophomore and Penn Environmental Group President Maria Villarreal.
“It's really a great way for students to engage with different organizations on campus and not only learn about them, and hopefully they'll be interested in joining next year, but also raise environmental awareness and help towards the cause of each and every group,” Villarreal said.
She also encouraged students to consider how their behavior impacts the environment and to take action in small ways.
“Just try and get involved as much as you can,” Villarreal said. “It might not be what you're passionate about, or where you want your career to be, but you're going to be on earth your entire life, and I think we should just be a little bit kinder to it.”
The Earth Week WasteWalk is part of a new collaborative project — led by WasteWise at Penn and the Penn Sustainability Office — that aims to address a gap in student-led waste education initiatives.
The event, on April 25 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., will have participants map outdoor waste receptacles on campus using GIS software, gathering data that will provide insights into waste disposal behaviors and receptacle accessibility.
The Sustainability Office will then leverage this data to streamline their campus waste management efforts, according to Masters of Environmental Studies student and WasteWise founding member Vanshika Arora. She says WasteWise is hoping to make the mapping data accessible to students in the future.
Arora encouraged students to “find their niche” in the environmental space and to take advantage of the diverse resources on campus.
“Even having no background in environmental activism, I think anyone can get involved in whatever kind of capacity they feel comfortable,” Arora told the DP. “[This] is something that affects everyone — the air that surrounds us, the campus that we walk on, it is all for us.”
Several events throughout the week also highlighted the importance of community partnerships. On Tuesday, the Morris Arboretum hosted a virtual panel discussion highlighting the Penn Plant Adaptability and Resilience Center’s innovative research on developing climate-proof plants.
On April 26, Penn, Philly in Action, and the Friends of Clark Park will host a volunteer clean-up day involving students, faculty, and staff helping to beautify a “cherished” West Philadelphia green space.
The April 25 BioBlitz, run by Penn Vet, the Penn Biology department, and the Wildlife Futures Program, had participants record wildlife observations around campus, helping to gauge local biodiversity. On April 23, Quaker Kitchen also hosted an Earth Week culinary session exploring the University’s sustainable food system in collaboration with Penn Park Farm and Penn Sustainability.
Earth Week events are open to all members of the Penn community.
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