Earth Day Fair

Earth Day was established in 1970 when the public became increasingly concerned about the current state of the environment. 

The Earth Day Fair has been a tradition at W&J since 2019.

In April 2020 and April 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fair was brought online for a week. It focused on educating the W&J community about sustainability topics, student and faculty environmental work, and encouraged participation in celebrating Earth Day.

Student & Faculty Blogs

Students and faculty have contributed over 50+ blogs dedicated to celebrating Earth Day. Topics range from conservation to environmental justice issues, and they touch upon personal experiences or passion for a subject.

Earth Day Poetry

Written by Carla Myers & Samantha Martin; Clark Family Library   The library (of course) encourages reading about nature. Why not combine it with #NationalPoetryMonth which also occurs in April?  Reading poems about nature and the environment can engender an...

Why Rehabilitate?

Written by Hannah Robart   Wildlife rehabilitation is the caring of individual wild animals until they can be released back into the wild, but it can take a lot of time, work, and energy. So why put in this much effort into providing care for sick or injured...

Donate Your Athletic Gear

Written by Nick Krugh   It is important that we, as humans, know what we can do to help our planet and it is important to use Earth Day to educate ourselves on ways that we can do this. I’m writing to inform young athletes how important it is to donate used...

Eco-Backyard: Composting & Planting Trees

Written by Robert Dunn One of the more important environmental actions we take in our household is to compost as much of our food waste as possible and nearly all of the leaves that fall in our yard each year. Almost seven years ago we started a compost pile in our...

Climate Change Activists of Color: Why Intersectionality is Necessary

Written by Chase Weiland Many of you have probably seen much about the famous young climate activist, Greta Thunberg. Her actions and missions do not go unnoticed, and she has done wonderful things to help young people get involved in the Climate Crisis through her...

Planting for Honeybees

Written by Robert Dunn This spring our oldest son, Emmett (8 years old), decided that he wanted to use a part of our backyard in East Washington to plant flowers that would attract and help honeybees.  He purchased the book Planting for Honeybees: The Grower’s Guide...

Alumni Highlight – Caitlin Glagola ‘13

I have been drawn to nature and the sciences since a young kid, so it only felt natural to earn my bachelor’s degree in Biology when I attended W&J (way back in 2009-2013!). Although it seemed like an easy choice in the beginning of what major I would choose, it...

Falling In Love with Rock Climbing

Written by Orri Gabbay I only recently picked up rock climbing. I would say I gained my passion for climbing during the summer leading into my sophomore year at W&J College. At that point, I had recently been going through tremendous stressors, one specifically...

Being Vegan

Written by Lena DiFulvio I want to start by saying that my journey towards veganism has certainly not been a fast one, nor has it been easy. Let's face it; changing your diet and completely eliminating foods that you've enjoyed your whole life is hard. Having to bring...

Why We All Play a Role in Conserving Our Oceans

Written by Kathryn Campbell In fall 2019 I studied abroad in Ecuador and The Galápagos Islands. While I was there I took classes that all taught me a lot about environmental research, conservation, and management. I specifically focused myself on marine environments....

Student Creative Pieces

Students wrote poems, short stories, and created art centered around celebrating the earth.

Title: “Tenacity”

Artist: Lena DiFulvio

Medium: Pencil on paper

“Tenacity,” at first glance, seems simply to be a human hand holding a tree, its roots spread about, reaching for the unseen earth below. A butterfly perches on the hand, its size taking hold of our gaze. Is this a work depicting beautiful human interaction with the Earth, providing fertile ground for its life to flourish upon, or is the tree in the image is being mercilessly uprooted, a symbol of human destruction and carelessness? Just as we must decide how we treat our planet, it is up to us to assign meaning to this piece. (April 2021)

Plastic Bag in Blossoming Tree

Written by Sofya Maxnide  | It stands out A huge white blob amongst the red little things At the end of each tingly feeler of the strong tree Clinging to the outstretched arms of the living tree Not even a parasite can I call it for its not alive In any sense but yet...