Media Advisory: UB Celebrates Earth Week 2011

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- From Earth Pong to Mt. Trashmore to the annual appearance of the University at Buffalo's solar-powered smoothie cart, the UB community will be busy celebrating Earth Week in a variety of ways, leading up to Earth Day on Friday, April 22.

This year, the week's activities are being sponsored by the University at Buffalo Undergraduate Student Association (SA) Environmental Affairs Department and UB Green.

Activities are open to all members of the UB community. In order to raise awareness among undergraduates, any UB undergrad participating in any Earth Week event can enter into SA's raffle for a hybrid bike, a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike, which cyclists say is an ideal choice for commuting to school.

Earth Week activities include:

Earth Pong -- On April 19, in the Flag Room of the Student Union on the North Campus, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., teams will compete, shooting beach ball replicas of the planet Earth into cardboard cups for prizes. UB's environmental groups will be on hand with information about sustainability efforts. Also, in the Flag Room from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be an Environmental Treasure Hunt. Clues will direct participants to various locations on campus that have something to do with sustainability at UB. Prizes include gift cards and the first 50 participants who get at least four clues correct, will win a waterbottle.

In addition, members of the UB community and the public are invited to Leading Locally: Environment Success Stories from Emerging Leaders, a free lecture featuring recent UB grads and native Buffalonians working in high-profile environmental careers. Speakers are Erin Heaney of Clean Air Coalition of Western New York and UB alums Creighton Randall of Buffalo CarShare and Mike Schade of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. The lecture will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in 200 Baird Hall, UB North Campus

On April 21, at noon, UB Improv, a student comedy group, which has performed to packed audiences on campus, will perform improvisational skits about the environment in the Student Union Flag Room. From 3 - 4:30 p.m., in the Student Union Theater, the SA will show "HOME," a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand that uses aerial-only footage to reveal the beauty of the planet and humanity's impact on it.

April 22, Earth Day, will bring a host of activities (weather permitting) to the Special Events Field, North Campus, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. UB True Blue, the student-run school spirit group, will organize games and activities, such as pickup soccer, football and Frisbee. Picnicking will be encouraged. Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), winners of the 2011 UB Student Organization Award for Excellence in Academics and Service, will bring out their solar- powered smoothie cart and sell drinks to students. All proceeds go toward funding the club's environmental projects, including the design of a hydroponics station to grow plants vertically. ESW also will build its annual "Mt. Trashmore" mountain demonstrating the amount of trash that UB produces over the course of just six hours. Organizers say it's a shocking demonstration of the need to boost recycling.

Students are encouraged to wear green for the environment on Earth Day, and those that sign a pledge for sustainability will get a chance to blow a vuvuzela on the Special Events field during "Blow Your Horn for the Environment." SA will provide paper materials for students to make eco-pots and plant wildflowers and play environmental trivia games.

Inside the Student Union Lobby, UB Green will host a clothing swap from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Students can bring up to 10 pieces of unwanted, gently used clothing, and trade them with someone else. Leftover clothing will be donated to the Buffalo City Mission.

For press arrangements and on-site contacts for individual activities, contact Ellen Goldbaum in the UB Office of University Communications at 645-4605.