By Anastasia Pumphrey
Campus has been celebrating Earth Day all week, and will be continuing tonight at 7 p.m. with a talk by Dr. Wayne S. Walker on Zoom about indigenous communities.
An email was sent out on Monday by the Environmental Stewardship Council outlining the week. It said that the dining commons will be participating in Earth Day as well, that no red meat was going to be served Monday-Thursday. The email also said that local food was going to be available throughout the week. The Commons is giving out Earth Day water bottle stickers while supplies last, ending today.
The talk tonight by Dr. Walker is titled Guardians of the Amazon: Linking Indigenous Communities, Forest Carbon, and the Climate Crisis. Walker is an Associate Scientist and Director of the Carbon Program at the Woodwell Climate Research Center whose research focuses on “applications of ground and satellite data to the measurement and monitoring of forests globally with an emphasis on the role they play in storing carbon and mitigating climate change.”
The announcement said that Walker will “speak about recent research that lies at the intersection of tropical deforestation, climate change, and Amazon indigenous rights and livelihoods.” A signup link is below for anyone planning on attending. https://www.stonehill.edu/events/guardians-of-the-amazon-linking-indigenous- communities-forest-carbon-and-the-climate-crisis-wayne-walker/2021-04-22/
There will also be a campus-wide cleanup starting Saturday April 24 at 1 p.m. led by Students for Environmental Action (SEA). “Along the walk, we will have a conversation about environmental justice, take part in a short meditation, and learn about the history of the land Stonehill stands upon,” the email said.
Students were also reminded to join the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge that is meant to help learn, reflect, and act against racism. For more information and to register for this program, the link is below. https://foodsolutionsne.org/21-day-racial-equity-habit-building-challenge.