April 22 is Earth Day, but on campus, the Sustainability Office is holding Earth Week at the Marano Campus Center from April 23 to 27 to honor Oswego’s commitment to sustainability.

Earth Week is a “celebration of [Oswego’s] yearly accomplishments,” said Peterly Jean-Baptiste, campus outreach intern at the Sustainability Office.

Jean-Baptiste said the focus is on the impact of our programs such as Bus Share and Save The Trees.

Throughout Earth Week, each day will focus on a different college sustainability program. Monday will feature Save The Trees, where the office asks students to fill out a pledge to reduce paper waste on campus by digitally submitting assignments or reusing old papers for notes. One way the Sustainability Office suggests saving paper is to microwave your notebook. With the product Rocketbook Wave, a special notebook that allows users to scan their pages to a cloud service of their choice can be microwaved up to five times to remove all highlighter, marker and certain pen inks from the notebook pages. These notebooks are a personal favorite of Theresa Personna, the public relations intern at the Sustainability Office.

“I get so hyped by not only informing people about this groundbreaking [notebook] but also for the look on their faces when I talk about putting the physical book in the microwave,” Personna said.

“We’re giving away one as a raffle prize for being part of our Exploration Study.”

For Tuesday, the Sustainability Office is focusing on sustainable transportation initiatives such as BusShare and BikeShare. According to Sustainability planning coordinator Jaime Adams, the Sustainability Office is looking to implement a dockless bicycle sharing system, which typically involves using a mobile app to track shareable bikes on standard bicycle racks and unlock them for rental through the app.

Wednesday is when the Sustainability Office will set up their table at Marano Campus Center for a day dedicated to campus involvement and celebrating student efforts in sustainability. These efforts include students saving over 1 million plastic bottles from entering the waste stream, Adams said.

“Students together make a big difference,” Jean-Baptiste said.

The Sustainability Office is dedicated to encouraging students to participate in reducing waste, he said.

“People tell me, ‘hey I’m doing this now [to be more sustainable],’ and I’m like, ‘yes!’” Personna said.

Personna said seeing others get involved is rewarding for her.

“Thursday is a nice culmination of events and collaboration,” said Michael Lotito, the sustainability engineering coordinator at the Sustainability Office.

Thursday features documentary screenings and guest speakers at Shineman during the afternoon and evening. “Beneath the Surface” will screen with director Mark Eischen and document the history of Onondaga Lake. The first screening is from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 170 Shineman Center, with a second showing from 7:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at 122 Shineman Center.

Guest speaker Hilary McManus will lead a talk titled “Mother Earth Needs Our Help” about the environment, women in STEM fields and global efforts to heal our planet. McManus will be in 175 Shineman Center from 6:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. on April 26. These special guests are particularly exciting to Adams and Lotito, as they represent how sustainability can cross curriculums to include fields of STEM, Women Studies and History.

“[It] really gets to what we’re trying to do: go beyond science and eco to reach across disciplines,” Lotito said.

Friday caps off the week with results for the year’s programs. Jean-Baptiste said this finale is about sharing with students their accomplishments, such as the impact of student efforts to utilize reusable water bottles, reducing carbon through BikeShare and paper saved by student commitment to Save The Trees.

Friday is about celebrating “what we’ve already done,” Adams said.

Jean-Baptiste said students make a big difference, where the small habits of waste or conservation by individual students add up to a larger impact.

“We’re always looking for dedicated students,” Jean-Baptiste said. “I’ve seen the growth from every corner. Students will be more mindful because we’ve been tabling and doing outreach. It’s been rewarding.”

Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian