Sustainability week 2024: A field guide

Our advancements in sustainability are some of our proudest accomplishments here at Miami University. With President Gregory Crawford’s recent pledge to carbon neutrality by 2040, sustainability-focused events are becoming more common on campus. This week Miami’s Associated Student Government (ASG) is hosting its annual Sustainability Week, and this is a guide to all of the upcoming events.

Sustainability Week is a great opportunity to learn more about campus initiatives. Olivia Herron, Miami’s director of sustainability, described some of the history of Sustainability Week and why it has historically been a week long.

“[Sustainability Week is] not necessarily Miami-related, but [for] colleges in general — October is always considered a sustainability month for higher-ed institutions,” Herron said. “We thought it would be really ambitious and would lose momentum, basically, to try to do a whole month of programming.”

To start the week, the Student Sustainability Council hosted a trash pickup on Saturday, Oct. 19 after the Miami vs. Ohio University football game, where we “battled” OU sustainability clubs to see who could pick up the most trash after the game.

The next event will take place on Monday, Oct. 21, where ASG’s Infrastructure and Sustainability Committee is tabling at the Seal from noon-5 p.m. This is a great opportunity to learn more about how to get involved.

Next, LEAP (Leaders of Environmental Awareness and Protection) and Zero Waste Oxford are hosting a movie night on Tuesday, Oct. 22, where they are showing the film “Erin Brockovich” – which highlights an environmental justice case about contaminated drinking water in a small California town – and provides another opportunity to meet more people from these clubs.

Wednesday the 23rd is one of our busiest days, starting with EcoReps who are hosting an event called “S’more about Sustainability” from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside of Armstrong. Enjoy some free s’mores and learn some more about how EcoReps contributes to Miami’s sustainability.

Another event on Oct. 23 will be a dinner hosted by Miami’s sustainability office. Sophomore psychology and English major John Day, who is the president of the Student Sustainability Council, explained the incentive in place to encourage students to attend.

“The director of sustainability at Miami, Olivia [Herron], is going to be giving a talk about the pledge for climate neutrality by 2040 and our climate action plan,” Day said. “There’s going to be free Chipotle for anyone who comes.”

There’s a link to RSVP for dinner, which will be held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Armstrong 2080. Directly after the meeting, Zero Waste Oxford will be hosting another movie night from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

On Oct. 24, the Miami Environmental Professionals Association (MEPA) is hosting a guest speaker in Shielder 053 at 6 p.m. The speaker is Debbie Tolliver, an environmental professional at Marathon Petroleum who will be speaking about her career.

Next on Oct. 25, EcoReps is hosting a Fall Farm Fest at the Miami farm, where there will be food and festivities. This is in collaboration with one of the capstone projects for the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability program to raise awareness about the farm and how they benefit students.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

Also that day, there is a Halloween party being put on by the League of Geeks in Armstrong from 6-10 p.m., where the Green Gamers will be hosting some sustainability-themed trivia.

To finish off the week, on Oct. 26 MEPA is hosting a pumpkin farm social. Carve a pumpkin for free and take advantage of the food and decorations to get you in the pumpkin-carving spirit. For this event, meet in Shielder 053. It will go from 12-3:30 p.m. and you can RSVP here.

Throughout the week MEPA will be hosting a tote bag fundraiser and the Green Team will be tabling in Armstrong. For up-to-date information check out @miami_ssc on Instagram.

Those are all of the events for our upcoming Sustainability Week. All are great opportunities to learn more about how you can help the Earth and how Miami is already doing it. Have a great week RedHawks!

blumta@miamioh.edu