Augustana’s official colors are blue and yellow and this week, Augustana students celebrated with green.
Augustana celebrated Green Week by having events everyday from Apr. 19-23. These events were hosted by Augie Acres, Sierra Club, Global Affect, Geography Club, Biology Club and Geology Club. There were outdoor activities like the Slough Clean Up and a planting day and indoor sales of plants, bags and shirts by the Brew.
This week was the first time that Augustana has celebrated the many different environmental and sustainability-minded clubs on campus. The events outside were focused on affecting the Augustana environment by plants and cleaning. The indoor events of sales of reusable grocery bags helped the environment by promoting the use of sustainable items. This shows that there’s more than one way to help the environment and be green.
Jodie Kirschner, a junior and president of Augie Acres, helped coordinate Green Week. Her favorite event was the Spring Planting Day, and she said it will have a big impact on Augie Acres because it is the beginning of their crop season.
One of the most important parts to Green Week was that there were many different clubs coming together for a common cause.
“One of the main ideas behind Green Week is to combine all of our campus environmental resources to make a greater impact,” she said. “We are hopeful that this Green Week will inspire other campus groups who identify with environmental or sustainable values to connect with our growing coalition. We may disagree on what needs to be done tomorrow or within the next year, but we can all agree on what the end goal may look like: a world community focused on the safety, security, and sustainability for all.”
Skylar Monahan, a junior and an environmental studies major, helped clear out invasive species on Friday near Seminary. She said this was her favorite part because she saw “the massive change from the dense, unhealthy forest patch it was to a beautiful, open patch with the help of students from all over campus who were excited to help and make a difference.”
Monahan also enjoyed explaining why this was happening and having other students being excited for change around campus.
Kirschner envisions a more inclusive and welcoming week next year. She also wants to focus on educating the public next time. An important part to the celebration is understanding why they do this and the benefits that will come from being a sustainable community.