Earth Day celebration to encompass variety of events

Skidmore's Environmental Action Club (EAC) and the Environmental Studies (ES) Program are celebrating Earth Day throughout the next week with several events designed to celebrate the Earth and explore sustainability issues.   

Activities are free and open to all.   Events including the following:

Saturday, April 23, noon-8 p.m., Earth Day Celebration -  Come to the South Green (Rain location: the Spa) to enjoy some exciting Earth Day events! Activities include slack-lining, Holi, beading, henna, bike repairs, plant potting, a clothing swap, and lots of delicious food. Hear music and spoken word performances from Railbird, the Forms, Readnex Poetry Squad, the Tony Castles, Big Tree, Mokaad and the Flexpoints, and the Miniature Tigers. Come celebrate your earth!   

Sunday, April 24, 1 p.m., Garden Work Party -  Help the Environmental Action Club's garden subcommittee plant trees, expand beds, and prepare the garden for the coming season. Student garden is located directly across the street from the main entrance and all are invited to help out. Come prepared to work.   
     

Tuesday April 26, 8 p.m., Gannett Auditorium, "Black/Land: A Different American History"  - A presentation by Mistinguette Smith and Danyelle O'Hara. This participatory presentation will provide a different American history contextualizing the African American relationship to land and place in the U.S. Using race as a lens, presenters and participants will create new connections between their personal lives, the environment, economic development, and civic engagement policy concerns. Mistinguette Smith has been a nonprofit and philanthropic leader for more than two decades. She piloted funding partnerships for health equity in AIDS services, developed programs and policy to address the root causes of hunger that link urban and rural areas, and guided organizations through leadership transitions. She developed the Target: Hunger organizing model to measurably reduce domestic hunger. Certified as a diversity trainer by the Equity Institute and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she teaches seasoned and emerging leaders how to ask themselves and each other difficult questions about difference. She founded M Smith Consulting, a practice that helps social mission organizations to make and measure social change. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she is a graduate of Smith College and New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. She currently serves on the faculty of the Center for Whole Communities, where she teaches advanced leadership skills to activists and philanthropists who work for environmental sustainability and social change. 

Wednesday April 27, 5 p.m., Gannett Auditorium, "Inspired by Nature: Mycological Biomaterials"  - Gavin McIntyre, chief scientist and cofounder of Evocative Design, will give a talk titled "Inspired by Nature: Mycological Biomaterials." He will discuss new principles for material design that consider the social and environmental impact rather than just the financial bottom line. He will explain how fungi can provide a solution to the world's future material needs, how the technology works, and how you can do it too. McIntyre will elaborate on how Ecovative Design is currently using mycological materials to displace synthetics, and will explain what problems these materials will address in the future.