MSU Students for a Sustainable Campus is hosting events from April 17-22 to celebrate Earth Week.
Each day will feature environmentally-themed events on Mississippi State University’s campus, leading up to the Earth Day Fair Saturday, April 22 from  11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fire Station Park.
Emma Van Epps, the president of SSC, discussed her goals for Earth Week by promoting sustainability in an engaging way for students.
“I want people to think that this is a fun and approachable thing and make these kind of topics easier to talk about, as well as use these opportunities. Because it’s not only going to be fun, but hopefully people will learn something. I’m a big believer in that – you don’t care about things you don’t know about,” Van Epps said.
Grant Peterson, the campaign director of SSC, explained why SSC will celebrate Earth Day over a week rather than just one day.
“We want to increase participation and knowledge around the campus about sustainability. So, doing the whole week is more visible for the whole campus, instead of just having one single day,” Peterson said.
Monday’s “Stuff Swap” encouraged students to bring items they no longer needed to trade with other students. Students for a Sustainable Campus also collaborated with the MSU Horticulture Club for a “plant swap” on Tuesday.
The MSU Campus Earth Day Fair will be hosted Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Peterson said the fair is open to the entire community to provide Earth Day celebrations for families to enjoy together.
The fair will include ice cream, conversations about sustainable changes on campus, the opportunity to pie a “climate criminal” and carnival games made from completely recycled materials.
Thursday will feature the Bee Hotel Workshop at 7 p.m. in Old Main 2220 where attendees will learn how to create homes for bees from recycled materials.
A trash cleanup will be hosted Friday at 2 p.m. where participants will meet at The Junction and clean trash along University Drive.
Earth Day will be celebrated Saturday. The celebration will include the Starkville Community Market from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., followed by the Earth Day Fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fire Station Park.
The Earth Day Fair will feature goat yoga, food trucks, live music, vendors and tables that will educate both students and community members on interesting environmental topics, including t-shirt upcycling.
Van Epps and Peterson both agreed that they are most excited about goat yoga, where a yoga instructor will lead participants through yoga poses while goats graze alongside them.
When asked about the history of goat yoga, Peterson said he was not sure where it originates but that the activity enhances relaxation.
“It’s just a thing. Someone started and it just caught on. I guess goats are very relaxed and calming. Like they weren’t running around anything. They’re just kind of meandering and eating grass. So, I feel like it’s just calm and matches the atmosphere,” Peterson said.
Van Epps said that SSC also plans to make more progress on reimplementing curbside recycling by bringing more awareness to their campaign. They hope to collect signatures from Starkville residents and educate students on how to make recycling more convenient and accessible.
“One kind of phrase that I thought kind of encapsulated our motivations for having the service being reimplemented is: it’s like having a more sustainable lifestyle delivered to your door,” Van Epps said.
Josie Nasekos, an intern of the MSU Office of Sustainability, said that Earth Week is a great opportunity for the Starkville community to celebrate our planet.
“Earth Week is a really great opportunity for students to get involved in sustainable student groups and kind of learn more, while having fun in the process. Earth Week is all about celebrating the earth that we’ve been given and the beauty of nature. So, throughout the whole week, we’ll be sharing information on how you can be involved to continue to be sustainable, even when the week is over,” Nasekos said.

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Jacob Mitchell | The Reflector

Students gathered to paint flower pots on the drill field during the Destress + Green event.