UNM programs will celebrate Earth Day with the second Annual Sustainability Expo.
The Sustainability Expo will promote eco-friendly living and products to UNM students. It is put on by UNM Parking and Transportation, the Office of Sustainability and Sustainability Studies Program.
Terry Horger is the program coordinator of the Sustainability Studies Program.
“The purpose of this expo is to showcase all of our various sustainability practices on campus,” Horger said. “The expo will include student organizations that have adopted sustainable practices. There are also other off-campus organizations that will be showing products and practices.”
Horger said the main targets for this expo are the UNM main and north campuses. It is also free to the public.
“The sponsorships for the event were found by the students. They include the Frontier, Whole Foods and KUNM. We will have a Lobo Grower’s Market with seven growers and products. There will be elementary students also coming onto campus, where speakers will talk about sustainability, farming and renewable energy,” Horger said.
Horger explained that this year’s expo will be bigger compared to last year. The biggest difference is the promotion of the 1 percent Co-op Program.
“The program was developed as a way that the Co-op could help support our Sustainability Studies Program,” Horger said. “Our program will be selling Co-op memberships on campus. To join it is a $15 annual fee. The Co-op will then track the memberships that we sell, and our program will receive a check for 1 percent of the total earnings from our sign-ups.”
She said the Sustainability Studies Program has expenses that do not get University or state funding. The 1 percent Co-op Program will help fund for these expenses, which will allow the program to continue. Both the Co-op and the program will benefit from this.
“I like seeing the enthusiasm that people have for this. Sustainability has become more on the minds of people today. Mostly anybody knows what sustainability is,” Horger said. “We want to get exposure and develop projects around sustainability.”
James Deans, a biology student, is enrolled in a class through the Sustainability Studies Program. His group the in class, the Via Waste Reducers, will have a table at the expo.
“We are working with the ‘Think Outside of the Bottle Campaign.’ It is a campaign against bottled water. Right now, we are trying to change the policy by getting bottled water off of our campus,” Deans said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
He explained they have been working with people who are in charge of the Pepsi contract that UNM holds. They will have two petitions tomorrow at the expo. One is national, for the campaign. The other is their petition which will be given to the Board of Regents.
“At the expo, we will have a corral filled with water bottles that we have collected last week. All the bottles are ones that have been thrown in the trash, not recycled. It proves that students are not aware enough. This will give students an idea of how much could have been recycled,” Deans said.
Deans said their booth will have posters and information regarding bottled water, including statistics on the oil involved in making bottled water, how much is really recycled and where the water comes from. Information on the health effects from drinking bottled water will also be available.
“I feel like UNM has increased recycling accessibility quite a bit, but our recycling center has not received any increase in funds in seven years,” Deans said.
