Ecologue

Last week, from April 20th to the 27th, ASOSU, CCE, SSI, Campus Recycling, and the Sustainability Office hosted Beyond Earth Day, an annual celebration put on by OSU and the greater Corvallis community. The program hoped to offer engaging events focused on “sustainable earth ecosystems, social progress and justice, and a healthy economy”, with a diverse group of organizations lending a hand in celebrations.

If you missed Beyond Earth Day, don’t fret! You can look forward to more events next year. In the meantime, it’s never too late to contribute to community sustainability. Check out the events that occurred and look for opportunities in the organizations that engaged in the celebration. Below you can see some of the highlights:

Saturday, April 21

• Earth Day of Service
  • According to SLI’s website, the Earth Day of Service was an amazing success! 98 volunteers from the OSU community completed 5 different service projects for a total of 314 service hours. These projects included:
    • Clean-Up and Organization at Old Mill Center: Cleaned and organized library, classrooms, conference room, storage rooms, cleaned 50-60 chairs and 15 tables, and up to 100 windows.
    • Craft N Care for Wildlife Habitats with Benton Soil & Water Conservation District: Crafted 50 cheerio strings for birds, 100 pine cones with bird seed, 300 bird ornaments, and 20 bird baskets.
    • Dunawi Creek Habitat Spring Cleaning with Corvallis Parks & Recreation: Removed a large amount of blackberry bushes.
    • Lincoln Elementary Garden Work Party with Linus Pauling Institute Healthy Youth Program:Cleared invasive thistle weed, painted stakes to mark garden beds, cleared garden beds and planted new crops.
    • Alsea Bay Tidal Marsh Debris Clean-Up and Invasive Species Control with The Wetlands Conservancy: 1000 lbs of debris collected off of several miles of tidal marsh, 40 willows replanted in wetland re-establishment project.

Sunday, April 22

• Hoo Haa!! 2:00 – 6:00 PM, OSU Organic Growers Club Farm
  • Hoo Haa was hosted on Earth day through the Organic Growers Club – with participants helping to plant onions on the farm! Those who attended got to enjoy live music and a hot supper as well.
  • Prior to the event, the Organic Growers Club also hosted a work party to prepare for the event – counting onions, cleaning beds, mowing grass, and weeding the raspberry bushes. Hoorah!

Monday, April 23

• “Mug Shots” Coffee and Cocoa Giveaway: 9:00 – 11:00 AM, M.U. Quad
  • In the spirit of Beyond Earth Day, we hoped to reduce the amount of disposable coffee cups that enter the trash by offering hot cocoa and Fair Trade coffee for those who had reusable mugs. Those who came got their “Mug Shot” taken and now have the opportunity to tag themselves in our Facebook post to win free SWAG!

Tuesday, April 24

• 18th Annual Community Fair: 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM, S.E.C. Plaza
  • The 18th annual community fair feature over 40 groups this year! Each one was required to offer an engaging activity that had a connection to the message of Beyond Earth Day. These on and off campus groups were offering activities and information focused on sustainable earth ecosystems, social progress and justice, and a healthy economy. Some of the featured activities this year included:
    • Transportation Services launched Zap Oregon State, a new bicycle commute rewards program
    • Surplus Property distributed free reusable bags to the first 50 people and hosted a sale of used bicycles
    • Minorities in Agriculture and Natural Resources (MANRRS) will hosted their annual native plant sale.
    • And so much more! Including food samples, prizes, virtual reality goggles, KBVR FM live-streaming, wildflower seed ball making, and live animals!

You can see the day-by-day posting and features of organizations on the Beyond Earth Day Facebook page here. You can view the rest of events that occurred during the week here.