Earth Week celebrations at Baldwin Wallace University have gained support through on campus groups and through social media.   

Earth Week, which will run from April 17-22, is a way for students of any major to participate in activities based on improving people’s understanding of living sustainably in a campus setting.   

This event was originally run through a separate organization, The Earth Week Coalition, outside of BW. During that time, BW students assisted with Earth Week activities at various locations with assistance from the national coalition.   

Currently, Earth Week is independently run by BW students, with games and activities that aim to teach their peers about how they can live their lives in a more sustainable way.   

This year, Earth Week is taking to Instagram to spread information regarding sustainability tips, environmental news and Earth Week information on its account @bw_earthweek.   

The account resurfaced for this year to provide information about the upcoming Earth Week celebrations said Jill Fleisher, professor of environmental sociology.  

“It gives students something to get excited about,” Fleisher said.   

According to Emily Shelton, Earth Week social media intern, the account has a current following of about three hundred individuals and businesses.   

In addition to having a social media account dedicated to spreading information for this event, Earth Week student volunteers are working on other methods to gain support.   

Volunteers are working to get the word out to as many people as possible before the event. The volunteers are making posters, setting up tabling events and planning activities for students to participate whilst also maintaining the social media accounts associated with the event.   

“If you want a successful event, you have to do it all,” Fleisher said.   

While volunteers are working hard to ensure that information is spread about the event itself, more people are working with other on-campus groups behind the scenes to ensure that event is supported in other areas.   

One of the events on the first day of Earth Week is a screening of the film “Microplastic Madness.” The Northeast Ohio Sierra Club and Sustainable Berea are working with Earth Week volunteers to promote this film during the week.   

One of the focuses that organizations have been working toward for this year’s Earth Week is encouraging students to learn about and reinforce positive behaviors regarding sustainability.   

“We get wrapped up in the severity of environmental problems, but you feel less hopeless when we have ways to be positive,” Fleisher said.