In celebration of a nationally recognized holiday, students flooded Alumni Hall on Thursday, April 22 to participate in Quinnipiac University’s biggest Earth Day celebration to date.

The Sustainability Committee organized the event, one they have been planning all year long. The committee is a collaboration of students and faculty, all of whom are passionate about informing the Quinnipiac community about the benefits of going green and taking care of our Earth.

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Posters and presentations, all highlighting the importance of sustainability, filled Alumni Hall. Students were offered plants and organic foods, and a raffle to win eco-friendly prizes was on hand.

One station offered a test between bottled water and the hydration station’s water, which is located in Tator Hall as well as in the Athletic Center weight room. This demonstration emphasized how using the hydration station to refill water bottles is a great way to go green.

“It is important that we make choices that will last a lifetime and not fill the landfills with waste,” said Jillian Moruzzi, a sophomore on the Sustainability Committee.

Making choices that last a lifetime not only applies to refilling water bottles, but to food as well. Chartwells joined in on the cause and offered food that had a less negative effect on the environment. One of the options they promoted was flexitarianism – a vegetarian diet with occasional meat consumption.

It was noted that livestock farming is one of the most significant contributors to climate change. By ensuring that meat, dairy products and eggs are produced to high environmental and animal welfare standards, as well as using products that are locally and seasonally available, there will be less harmful effects to the planet.

Other presentations included the value of composting, and most importantly, recycling.

“The perception of many students is that we don’t even recycle, which is not true. We are doing things that students don’t know about and part of The Sustainability Committee’s job is to make that perception more correct,” said Professor Kristen Richardson, a laboratory instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences and a very active member of the Sustainability Committee.

Another eye-opening presentation was that of “York Hill Goes Green.”  The company Alteris, who also had a table at the Earth Day celebration, put up the 25 wind turbines on York Hill. These generate approximately 32,000 kilowatts annually, and will power lights from the parking garage to the Crescent dorm.

This summer, there will be 750 solar panels on York Hill that will generate 235,000 kilowatts annually. Another addition to York Hill will be touch screen monitors in each building that track daily energy use and offer tips to improve usage.

“It is really nice to see that Quinnipiac is making strides to go green,” said senior Megan Scully, who worked with senior Katie Van Nostrand on the “York Hill Goes Green” presentation for their biology class.

“Our goal is to get people on campus to come together to make campus a more green, sustainable place,” Richardson said. “The most important part is really the exchange of ideas to bring in academic sense in a forum, not only on Earth Day but year round.”

Upon exiting the Earth Day setup, there was a place for faculty, students and community members to post their ideas about sustainability for Quinnipiac’s campus.

“It really is imperative that students recognize how much waste a university makes,” Moruzzi said. “We want to be environmentally friendly in every sense of the word and leave as little footprint as possible.”

To get involved with the Sustainability Committee and their mission, contact Professors Kristen Richardson, Kristen Wolfe or Deborah Clark.