From new events like the Sierra Club Social at Radicle Effects to helping hands from Greek groups with Augie Acres, Earth Week hosted a variety of events to raise awareness about taking care of the Earth.
Through the efforts of seniors Emerson Lehman, president of Augustana Sierra Club, and Ian Empen, president of Augie Acres, Earth Week, held from April 19 to 26, was brought back to campus. Earth Week brought multiple clubs together into a shared effort that created opportunities for more students to be aware of the events and give back to the campus and Quad Cities community.
With encouragement from Chris Strunk, professor of Geography and Latin American studies, Empen joined Augie Acres during the first fall work day during his sophomore year.
Prior to that school year, Augie Acres was still rebuilding from the COVID-19 pandemic. After joining the club, Empen became part of the student effort to help revitalize the garden and regrow the community around it. He said that it is a community he still wants to encourage.
“One of my goals is to make Augie Acres a space on campus where students go there to hang out … I want a space where students can have another outdoor space, where students can feel welcome,” Empen said. “It really excited me this year. [There are] times [when I’m] just walking by Augie Acres and there are just students sitting on the bench, hanging out … That’s what I want: students to take ownership of this space, because it’s for all of us and students.”
Not only was this space intentionally planted through the community, but Augustana’s smaller campus size also gives students the opportunity to build community connections more intentionally.
Lehman, an environmental studies major, is very passionate about educating those around her about the importance of environmental protection and the conservation of public lands through Sierra Club.
“The interconnected nature [of Augustana] allows me to get the word out, advocate more and get more people involved,” Lehman said. “I don’t know if I’d necessarily be able to do that on a larger campus.”
Sierra Club hosted its first Sierra Club Social on Friday, April 24 at Radicle Effect Brewerks in Rock Island. The goal of the event was to engage members of the broader Quad Cities community while providing environmental education in a fun and entertaining way.
“I think community is a common theme [for me], I want to create a more robust environmental community in the Quad Cities,” Lehman said.
Lehman says collaboration is key to spreading environmental awareness efforts across Augustana’s campus. Various clubs worked together to host events that aligned with the efforts of the groups and environmental education.
On Wednesday, April 22, the Sierra Club partnered with Campus Closet to host Swap Don’t Shop on campus. This event allowed students to participate in a free thrifting opportunity in the middle of the Viking Plaza.
Senior Joren Weller-VanHollebeke, studying environmental studies, started Campus Closet during Spring 2025. This is the second year that Campus Closet has collaborated with Sierra Club and hosted Swap Don’t Shop.
Sustainability in the fashion industry has become a big issue, with fast fashion on the rise. It takes large amounts of water, microplastics and energy to produce clothing. Over-consumption continues to rise, which makes reusing and rewearing clothes an important part of environmental sustainability.
“Each of these steps [to make clothing] has its own isolated impact,” Weller-VanHollebeke said. “Compoundment with one another creates a much larger footprint than we really even know.”
Even smaller campus efforts can make a difference because they offer students a chance to learn more intentionally about the steps they can take to strengthen sustainability.
Junior Liz Hayes, Augie Acres outreach chair, said the club’s impact is rooted in students who choose to show up.
Through Hayes’ sorority, Chi Alpha Pi (CAP), which values social activities among members and other organizations on campus, she helped coordinate CAP’s planting prep day with Augie Acres. By organizing outreach events across Earth Week, she hopes to leave both a physical and communal mark on campus.
“Successful collaboration is when people show up and want to be there … they want to play a part in Augie Acres and be something a little bit more outside of their own group,” Hayes said.
Providing a space for students to practice sustainable living can be difficult when it feels like there’s so much to be done for the environment. Earth Week efforts provide an atmosphere for students to learn about those efforts not only through education, but also through hands-on learning.
Weller-VanHollebeke hopes to inspire those around her to take action in small ways. Acknowledging that even a small step, like attending an Earth Week event, can cause a ripple effect of positive environmental solutions.
“In terms of scale, [it’s hard for an individual] to see what their place is in that greater push towards sustainability,” Weller-VanHollebeke said. “Each individual person has a fair part to play in each different sector [of environmental protection].”
That hands-on approach towards campus sustainability is blossoming through Augie Acres’ planting days, where students gather at the campus garden to prepare beds, plant crops and tend to the grounds.
Although Augie Acres prep and planting days where spring crops are planted can sound labor-intensive at first, Empen, whose favorite part of Earth Week is the planting days, said the goal is to make work approachable enough that students feel comfortable showing up.
This flexibility lowers the barrier for students and provides a space for them to be themselves. No one is expected to arrive with experience, but they are expected to do what they can to help the environment.
“We try to have a variety of tasks for students to do, depending on their comfortability level,” Empen said. “So whether you just clear the beds out, wheelbarrow mulch back and forth for an hour, watering, [or] just pick and pull weeds, that always helps us.”
Building communities that are curious about providing for the environment and promoting sustainability has shown student organizers that support and turnout are what turn environmental efforts into something that lasts.
For future president of Augie Acres, current treasurer of the club and fundraising chair for Sierra Club, Guido Pigoni, one of the most vital attributes is people who show this.
“I think it’s the support we get from the Augustana community and really the turnout of everyone that shows up,” Pigoni said. “It just lets you know that your hard work is paying off and that they care and are willing to support.”
With student leaders already thinking about what comes next, organizers said the future of Earth Week will depend less on a single week of events and more on whether students continue building sustainability and community into campus life year-round.
“If I can get at least a few more people to feel like they belong here at Augustana, I think that would just be fabulous by the end of the year,” Pigoni said. “If I think I’ve done that, I’ll know I’ve done a good job to inspire more people to maybe take up an executive position and continue the work.”