Campus Sustainability Week

Campus Sustainability Week

October 14-18, 2024

Campus Sustainability Week is an opportunity for Elon students, faculty and staff to come together to examine sustainable habits and inspire positive sustainable change throughout the Elon community. It is also an opportunity to learn about and celebrate Elon University’s current sustainable practices. A variety of events will take place throughout the week.

Campus Sustainability Week Competition

Attend as many events as you can for your chance to win!  First, second and third place winners will be determined by those who attend the most events throughout the week.  There will be one set of student winners and another set of faculty/staff winners

PRIZES

First Place: $25 Phoenix Cash, hammock, sustainability prize pack (beeswax wrap, t-shirt, water bottle, utensil kit, straw, reusable bag)
Second Place: hammock, sustainability prize pack
Third Place: hammock

Registration encouraged (*and required for some events!)

Schedule of Events

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15

12-1 PM | Tree Walk (Meet at Fonville Fountain in front of Alamance Building) *Registration Required

Join Elon’s arborists on a walk around Elon’s beautiful campus to learn about Elon’s trees, including the Tree Trail on campus, the arborist’s favorite trees, and insider information on the maintenance and sustainability of the Elon urban forest.

7:30-8:30 PM | Campus Sustainability Week Keynote: Beyond “Wastelands”: Pigs, Pollution and a Community’s Fight for Justice (McKinnon Hall, Moseley Center)

Between 2013 and 2020, hundreds of residents of rural eastern North Carolina fought to hold the world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, accountable in court for longtime environmental harm to their air, their water, and their ancestral land. Attorney and author Corban Addison chronicles that story in Wastelands, recipient of the 2023 Reed Environmental Writing Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Wastelands recounts the triumph of human courage and community persistence in the face of insurmountable odds, as well as an untold civil rights story that resonates with America’s current reckoning on race. It exposes the hidden side of agribusiness, the dangers of corporate capture in the state legislatures, the challenge of holding rich and powerful industries to account in the courts, and the true cost of one of America’s favorite breakfast foods – bacon.

In this visually rich presentation, complete with video footage and animations from five federal trials, Addison will shine a light on the intersection of food, race and money as he takes his audience behind the scenes of a landmark war in the courtroom that brought a once invincible industry to its knees.

Sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, Elon University School of Law, the Environmental Studies Department, the Kernodle Center for Civic Life and the Fund for Excellence in Arts and Sciences (a joint endeavor of the College of Arts and Sciences and Phi Beta Kappa)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16

9:00-10:00 PM | S’mores with Outdoors (Beck Pool Patio)
Join Elon Outdoors and the Eco-Reps for a special Campus Sustainability Week S’mores with Outdoors!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17

2:00-4:00 pm – Build your own Birdhouse (Elon Community Garden) Registration Encouraged.

Come make milk carton bird houses or bird feeders at the community garden (bird seeds included!), make friends, and learn about the bird species around the Elon community. Everyone is welcome!

3:00-6:00 PM | Elon Farmers’ Market (Elon Community Church) 
Support local farmers, bakers, crafters and the local economy. Stop by the Office of Sustainability table to grab a reusable shopping bag to reduce your waste.

4:00-6:00 PM | Culturally Relevant Herbalism & Farming (Loy Farm EcoVillage) *Registration Required.

Join Brandon Ruiz, urban farmer and Caribbean herbalist, for an immersive herbalism workshop from a culturally-relevant perspective. Brandon will share his experience cultivating community through herbalism and invite the attendees to enter into a space of sharing and reciprocity centered around nature-based experiences. The workshop will include a hands on herbalism component with each participant taking home a product made partially from produce grown at the Loy Farm.

5:00-7:00 PM | Pop Up Swap Shop (Moseley Center)
Looking to refresh your closet? Perfectly good clothing you no longer wear? Bring it to the Pop-Up Swap Shop to trade for new-to-you shirts, pants, dresses, and more!

6:00-7:00 PM | Sustainability Master Plan Feedback Session (Mosley Center, McKinnon Hall) Registration Encouraged.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18

2-5 PM | Mental Health Hike (Shallow Ford Natural Area – Transportation Provided) *Registration Required.

Nature offers endless opportunities to improve your life! Hiking allows us to tap into multiple areas of well-being and engage our senses. Join the Office of Sustainability, Counseling Services, and the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education for an inclusive hike to experience and explore the ways being in Nature can support your holistic wellness.  Transportation provided.  Registration required.

4:00 – 6:00 PM | Bike to Burlington (Meet at Koury Athletic Center) *Registration Required.