This year’s Earth Day got greener when Stony Brook’s Earthstock came back to the Academic Mall with performances, energy efficient material and owls.
Earthstock brought out numerous clubs and organizations in order to help make Stony Brook and the Earth, at large, greener.
One of the stands at Earthstock, Friends of Fire Island National Seashore, offered students the opportunity to plant tomatoes using recyclable cups. They also offered dirt so that people could grow fresh vegetables.
Dr. Marvin O’Neal, faculty director of the Friends of Fire Island National Seashore, said “We use recyclable K-Cups to plant a tomato and get things ready for the summer.
“We work with the parts of service of Fire Island National Seashore to try to bring students and guests to improve the part and find clean up volunteers,” O’Neal said, in reference to his organization.
Other organizations came to Earthstock to share their knowledge and ideas for the community. Eleni Nikolopoulos, 28, educator for the North Fork Natural History Museum, offered pamphlets on animals and the environment in order to get people involved in perserving the environment.
“We try to educate people about nature, the importance of the environment and the importance of conserving biodiversity,” Nikolopoulos said.
While people were walking around and viewing all of the Earth-related attractions, music was being played all around the Academic Mall, including performances from Taiko Tides. The group’s upbeat playing brought excitement to the day.
“Our group has been performing in Earthstock for, I’m not sure, but this is my second time performing,” Sang Pat, a senior psychology major, said.
After the performance, Taiko Tides invited students to come see the group’s first concert at the Charles B. Wang Center Theatre on April 28.
Some of the clubs on campus offered students and guests original material in order to help benefit the environment.
One example was the Sierra Club, with their hand-made biodegradable bird feeders made using pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed. Once people create the bird feeders, they hang their new biodegradable bird feeders on the trees and other plants around the Academic Mall.
“It’s our chance to make a completely biodegradable bird feeder and they can hang them around campus to create a more positive atmosphere today,” Kylie Campanelli, a junior environmental humanities major, said. “We just want to bring people a little message on how they can be more sustainable and get them involved because we do a lot of outing, camping, and activist’s work so we want to let people know that we’re here.”
While celebrating making the community green, students and guests also came to Earthstock to indulge in the Farmer’s Market for pies and the ice cream social.
Earthstock made getting the message out to people in order to help get involved and protect the environment an entertaining experience.
