Source: Zack Pistora, zackp@k-state.edu;
and Valerie Carroll, 785-532-7274, carrollv@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Rosie Hoefling, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Monday, April 19, 2010

K-STATE TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY APRIL 22

MANHATTAN -- Earth Day is Thursday, April 22, and Kansas State University will join in the environmental celebration with two on-campus events that are both free and open to the public.

Students for Environmental Action will host an Earth Day event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Bosco Plaza in front of the K-State Student Union. The event will kick off with a parade around campus promoting Earth Day. Other activities will include a T-shirt swap, guest speakers, an appearance by the Bag Monster, a scavenger hunt and a vegan taste test. Live music will be available from noon to 1 p.m.

Zack Pistora, senior in political science, Lawrence, and vice president of Students for Environmental Action, said that the Earth Day activities are an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to support a better environmental future for K-State and the Manhattan community.

"We hope that our university -- students, faculty and staff alike -- can come together to celebrate our accomplishments and push for improvements in terms of environmental and humanitarian efforts," Pistora said. "Earth Day at K-State hopes to be a lot of fun and also very educational."

Forty different campus and community organizations have been invited to attend the Students for Environmental Action's Earth Day event, Pistora said. Various organizations invited include Ordinary Women, Student Farm Club, K-State department of environmental health and safety, Emerging Green Builders, Wheat State Agronomy Club and many more.

K-State Earth Day activities will continue in the afternoon with the presentation "Ecofeminism: What in the World is It?" by Valerie Carroll, instructor of women's studies at K-State, at 4 p.m. in Room 212 of the Union. Carroll will discuss global ecofeminist actions that promote justice for various groups of oppressed people and the environment.

"In understanding environmental and global justice issues, one of the most important concepts is hierarchies -- the assignment of power based on position," Carroll said. "Ecofeminism critiques the human over nature hierarchy and seeks to understand how the oppression of women, human subordinated groups and nature are all interconnected."

For more information about environmental efforts at K-State visit: http://sustainability.k-state.edu/ for sustainability efforts at K-State; http://www.k-state.edu/environment/ for K-State's Students for Environmental Action organization; http://www.coe.k-state.edu/sustain for K-State's College of Education's sustainability resources for education Web site; and http://www.communications.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=988 for K-State's Environmental Communications organization.