NC State’s Earth Fair is an annual event on campus that educates students on how to live more sustainable lifestyles, taking place this year on Wednesday, April 12 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Stafford Commons. The fair is sponsored by NC State’s Sustainability Office and will include a plethora of vendors and organizations focused on promoting sustainability.
Some attending vendors and organizations include NC State’s Beekeepers Club, Commute Smart Raleigh, Greater Good Textile Group, North Carolina Green Party, NC State Sustainability Stewards and others. A few of these vendors and organizations will have activities to educate attendees about sustainability and how multifaceted it can be.
Lani St. Hill, NC State’s Sustainability Communications and Engagement Coordinator, is organizing the Earth Fair. St. Hill said the goal is to educate NC State students, as well as the community, about environmentally responsible practices within community outreach.
“The purpose of [the] Earth Fair is to bring awareness to all of the types of organizations on campus and in the community that boost sustainability,” St. Hill said. “It’s to help our students and whoever comes … learn more about sustainability. And it’s just a great and fun way for people to engage with campus partners and their friends.”
St. Hill said the Earth Fair is a social event that helps students engage with the many campus and community organizations that pertain to sustainability, peer-to-peer education and relationships that students have with one another.
“We have a lot of campus departments and student organizations that will be there as vendors, attending and hosting tables,” St. Hill said. “It’s a great way for [students] to see that they’re not alone in their [sustainability] efforts. They can also build that community with other people and understand that, ‘Wow, you know, we’re doing so great.’ That’s a great way for them to promote what they’re doing but also build a sense of community too within our campus.”
Sustainability is very versatile and interdisciplinary, despite its various stereotypes. St. Hill said it’s important to educate the community of the various forms of sustainability, apart from the commonly-known practices.
“Sustainability means so many different things, the breadth is huge, and people can be sustainable in a variety of ways,” St. Hill said. “Sustainability is more than just bringing your own water bottle, which is great. It’s more than riding your bike, which is great. There are so many different ways for people to engage and make the world a better place. And [the] Earth Fair provides our campus the opportunity to see the myriad of ways that they can be sustainable.”
NC State’s Sustainability Stewards is a campus organization that will be attending the Earth Fair. Kyle Wurtz, the Sustainability Stewards Equity and Outreach Team Coordinator said his organization’s mission spans several categories.
“Basically, we’re a student group that promotes sustainability on campus … kind of engaging the campus community, mostly to the student body, [with] initiatives that relate to resource conservation, equity and outreach and waste reduction,” Wurtz said.
Like St. Hill, Wurtz said he hopes students take away a new perspective from the Sustainability Stewards at the fair.
“I hope students walk away with an understanding that there are many different avenues or paths that you can take to [practice] sustainability,” Wurtz said. “Sustainability doesn’t have to be just a science-based thing. It’s also social. There are social components to sustainability and building community.”
If the weather postpones the Earth Fair, it will be rescheduled for April 19.
