Earth Day 2022
UCO’s Earth Day returns after global pandemic
The Central Oklahoma Coalition for Sustainability will host an Earth Day tabling event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday outside of the Nigh University Center.
“We want to continue raising environmental awareness on campus,” said David Bass, chair of the coalition.
According to Bass, Earth Day Fair 2022 will feature 15 to 20 organizations from on and off campus setting up tables along the walkway near the blue tent to educate students, faculty and staff regarding specific areas of sustainability. The organizations include The Department of Electricity, which will present on ways to conserve electricity, the Department of Stormwater Quality, the Department of Urban Forestry and more.
A blog post on Broncho Blogs made by another member of the coalition, Mark Walvoord, said that there will also be a glass collection event under the blue tent, inviting people to bring unwanted glass jars and bottles for recycling.
There will also be zine making and film screening events from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Melton Gallery.
“Ultimately it is to learn what a single person can do to help in protecting the world,” said Bass.
No registration is required at the event; people can walk up and learn about a specific table at any time.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, the UCO Earth Day Fair was the longest continuously running Earth Day event in Oklahoma.
“It’s been tough putting this together, we’ve gone through the pandemic so we haven’t had an earth day fair in two years,” Bass said.
He said that before the pandemic, around 35 to 40 organizations tabled for the event, but many contacts were lost, retired, or moved on to different positions.
Bass said he hopes that in the near future, the fair will grow and return to its former prominence. Just a few years ago, the Earth Day Fair was considered a Top 10 event at UCO, just behind Homecoming and Winterglow. For more information, contact Bass via email at dbass@uco.edu.