WCU organizations host first Earth Fair

On Friday, April 20, 2012, E.A.R.T.H. Club, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Sustainability Advisory Council hosted West Chester University’s first Earth Fair. The purpose of the event was to bring people and organizations together to share their ideas, actions, and skills in the movement toward a more sustainable planet.
On the day of the fair, tables run by individuals, clubs, and local businesses filled the Academic Quad with color and energy, resulting in a successful and memorable event.
The idea for the Earth Fair arose in the Campus Culture Committee of the Sustainability Advisory Council. With a deep passion for the protection, care and restoration of the planet on both a local and global scale, they rapidly spread their energy to other clubs, especially the Environmental Association for the Repair of the Habitat and Students for Sensible Drug Policy. These campus organizations collaborated to create an entire week filled with information and events from Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) talks to Tips for Green Living from students to Richard Whiteford’s presentations on Climate Change.
A wide variety of local businesses and local branches of non-profit organizations were invited to the concluding Earth Fair. Groups included the Chester County Cycling Coalition, which is working toward a more bike-friendly West Chester; Transition Media, which gives the power of the Transition movement from oil dependency to local resilience; and the Chester County Beekeepers, who even brought their bees with them.
Student organizations also contributed a great deal to the overall success of the event from Sociology Club’s tie dye table to E.A.R.T.H.’s seedling planting to Exercise Club’s obstacle course. The businesses involved were 4CP, Aramark, Arborganics, Chester County Beekeepers, Chester County Cycling Coalition, Cloud 9 Rooftop Farm, PENNDOT, Pete’s Produce Farm, Quantus Energy and Transition Media. The clubs involved were Association for Women’s Empowerment, English Club, Exercise Club, Habitat for Humanity, Invisible Children, LGBTQA, Philosophy Club, Rotaract, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Students for Liberty, and Sociology Club.
Students of the organizations worked hard, from planning meetings to contacting clubs and organizations to advertising, and next year’s Earth Fair on April 19, 2013 will be even bigger. If a student or an organization wants to be involved in the planning process, join the Facebook planning group “WCU EARTH WEEK 2013 Planning Group.”
For more information on this or next year’s Earth Fair or Earth Week, contact Lindsay Silcox Sustainability Advisor, Aramark, at Silcox-Lindsay@aramark.com, Hannah Peters, Student organizer, at HP744135@wcupa.edu, or Isabella Dilauro, E.A.R.T.H. President, ID751816@wcupa.edu.
Hannah Peters is a second-year student majoring in Latin and German She can be reached at HP744135@wcupa.edu.