GETTYSBURG – Going “green” is a buzz phrase for many homes, schools and businesses, but what does it really mean? In celebration of Earth Day, HACC’s Gettysburg Campus will welcome guest speaker Rosalie Rodriguez, who will present “Kermit was Wrong: It is Easy Being Green.”
Two presentations, sponsored by the Office of Student Life and Multicultural Programs, are set for 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 17, in the Robert C. Hoffman Community Room.
Rodriguez, a community sociologist focused on social justice and the environment, will talk about how our actions, inaction and political decisions can impact our health and development now and for generations to come. She also will offer practical solutions on how to live “greener.”
“How can we ask ourselves difficult questions like ‘Do I need an iPad 4, when I just bought the iPad 3 a few months ago?’” Rodriguez said. “If the answer is yes, ask what is happening with the old iPad. Is it being recycled? How is it being recycled?”
Rodriguez, special assistant to the president for diversity and inclusion at Juniata College in Huntingdon, also will share simple things that can reduce consumption and waste such as using refillable water bottles rather than disposable ones, placing a recycling bin in your room or classroom and encouraging others to do the same, and learning where your food and your "stuff" comes from and where it goes when you are through with it.
Other suggestions take time, but are well worth it, Rodriguez said. “Become an actively engaged citizen who t talks to local board members, on campus, in local school boards, and tell your representatives what you feel is acceptable for our children and students to be exposed to chemically and what risks you are now willing to take,” she said.
Other Earth Day Celebration Week activities at HACC’s Gettysburg Campus include a campus beautification project, sponsored by the Gettysburg Student Government Association, that will include trash and debris pick up around the building and campus grounds; a campus flower-planting project on Thursday, April 19, to beautify parking lot “islands” on campus (BYO gardening tools!); and a week-long Earth Day T-shirt sale, with proceeds benefitting the Land Conservancy of Adams County. (Students receive free T-shirts; however, staff, faculty and visitors may donate any amount of money for a shirt.)
This is the campus’s third annual celebration of Earth Day, which usually draws about 400 participants throughout the week. The events are free and open to the public.
