NDSU Environmental Sustainability Club holds week-long celebration for Mother Earth

As classes were not in session on Earth Day Monday, April 22, the North Dakota State Environmental Sustainability Club decided to celebrate the earth for a whole week, according to Haley Burgart, the vice president of ESC.

Chantelle Dowell, a member of the club, agreed and added, “The earth deserves more than just a day.”

Activities the club has done include tabling outside the NDSU Bookstore in the Memorial Union in an effort to raise awareness of how students can help out the environment. And on Wednesday, April 24, the club performed a trash audit to see what NDSU students are truly getting rid of.

On Friday, April 26, there will be a campus-wide clean up initiative put on by the club. To participate and clean up the NDSU’s campus, just show up outside the south doors of the Memorial Union at noon to help out the campus and the environment.

For Dowell, helping the environment is important, as there’s only one planet for the human race to survive on, and she said that she wants to help preserve that for future generations.

Burgart expressed a passion for animals and how she believes humans are developing and urbanizing communities faster than they understand, which poses a lot of environmental problems.

One idea that Burgart threw out to the campus community is to make an on-campus thrift shop, as the textile industry creates a lot of waste that hurts the planet.

Both members present encouraged students to engage in small efforts like using reusable metal straws instead of single-use plastic straws, carrying a reusable cloth bag and recycling.

Burgart also stated that sustainability doesn’t have to be expensive because it’s a gradual process.

She also shared her favorite quote from an Instagramer she follows. The Instagramer shared that sustainability doesn’t come from a handful of people doing it perfectly, but a large group of people doing it imperfectly.

That is to say if only one person lives completely waste free, there are millions of other people contributing to pollution and other environmental problems. Whereas millions of people trying their best and sometimes making mistakes will produce a much bigger impact for the environment.

Both members encouraged students to constantly ask themselves what they can do to better support the environment.