The NC State Sustainability Office hosted its 2017 Earth Fair Wednesday in the Brickyard. The fair featured exhibits and demonstrations from university-affiliated organizations and businesses from the larger Raleigh area. Participants shared their experiences and ideas regarding sustainability in many aspects of daily life such as food, transportation, technology and energy.
Debbie Currie, collection manager for agricultural & environmental sciences at NCSU Libraries, thinks that events such as Earth Fair expose the campus community to the many available resources in the area.
“It’s very important to support environmental sustainability on campus,” Currie said. “And, what’s really nice about [Earth Fair] is not only are campus vendors here like the libraries or the sustainability office, but also we have other groups come from outside the library, which is very educational for the university community to see all these other groups that are involved in sustainability.”
Currie spoke about the libraries’ continuing efforts to keep the buildings as sustainable as possible.
“When we were building Hunt Library, a lot of thought was given to making that building as sustainable in every possible way,” Currie said. “The building achieved LEED Silver Rating, which is significant. So, that building is quite sustainable, and D.H. Hill is an old building. We are doing our best to retrofit it so that we make it as sustainable as we can.”
The Poole College of Management participated in Earth Fair by presenting their Business Sustainability Collaborative, an academic research initiative that aims to prepare students and engage them in the local and global business community. They shared their table with students from Net Impact.
Anna Campbell, a senior studying communication and public relations, spoke about her experience with Net Impact, a nonprofit student-led organization on campus that supports student leaders across disciplines.
“As students, we actually get hands on experience with local corporations that are B Corporations,” Campbell said. “They become certified because they believe in the triple bottom line of investing in their employees, their community and the environment while making a profit.”
Campus Enterprises also showcased its sustainability initiatives at the event.
Lindsay Hester, marketing and communication manager at Campus Enterprises, spoke about the work the company does.
“We are giving away samples, and … we are doing a prize-wheel and asking and informing the students and staff of the sustainability initiatives we have within Campus Enterprises,” Hester said. “We encourage students and staff to bring their own bags to our C-Stores and the Atrium.”
The NC State Campus Farmers’ Market, which takes place every Wednesday in the Brickyard, was also a part of the Earth Fair. Sandi Ramsey, a senior studying plant and soil science, was promoting the work of the NC State Campus Farmers’ Market.
“Since NC State is a land-grant university, [the NC State Campus Farmers’ Market] tries to promote farmer-to-farmer interaction with students,” Ramsey said. “So you’re getting a wide-range of students interacting with the vendors, not just the agricultural kids.”
Sarah Williams, the transportation demand manager for WolfTrails and a senior studying parks, recreation and tourism management, represented the NC State Transportation Department at the event and shared information with students about WolfTrails — an initiative to provide alternative transportation options for students and faculty around campus. These options include biking, walking, taking the bus and carpooling.
Earth Fair is one of many events organized by the NC State Sustainability Office as part of Earth Month.
For information about more events, visit the event’s webpage at https://sustainability.ncsu.edu/get-involved/events/earth-day/
Beverly Setzer, a junior studying mathematics, is handed a loblolly pine by Kimber Lunsford, the assistant director of undergraduate programs for the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, during the Earth Fair in the Brickyard on April 5, 2017. Setzer was the president of the Good Club, a student group that was also set up during the fair. "We had 900 plants and we sold out within an hour and a half," Setzer said.
