Earth Day at Berea College includes trees and ducks this year. The College’s students, athletes, administrators and city officials, including Berea’s Mayor, Steven Connelly, planted trees on Friday, April 22, at 9:30 a.m. on the Berea College campus. The College’s Office of Sustainability sponsored this event.
In addition to the tree planting, Berea College students are participating in a fun “green” duck hunt as part of the Earth Day observance. Two dozen green-colored rubber ducks imprinted with recycling symbols have been hidden all over campus in sustainable locations, such as the charging station for sustainable vehicles at Boone Tavern Hotel’s parking lot or the College’s food service, which implements many “green” practices including serving locally-grown and organic produce from the Berea College Farm and composting all food scraps, which are used in the College’s gardens and greenhouses. The student who finds the most “green” ducks will win a special Berea t-shirt.
The tree planting event marks the culmination of this year’s Green Game, which was played February 5 against the University of Cincinnati Clermont College. The Green Game is a carbon-neutral basketball game. Energy consumption, such as fuel consumed for transporting the opposing team to Berea, and electricity consumed for lights during the game, was calculated to determine how many trees needed to be planted in order to offset the carbon emissions produced from that particular game. After the 2014 Green Game at Berea, 24 trees were planted in order to offset carbon emissions.
Berea College has a long tradition of maintaining a culture of sustainability that derives from one of the College’s eight Great Commitments, which states, in part, a commitment “to encourage in all members of the community a way of life characterized by plain living, pride in labor well done, zest for learning, high personal standards, and concern for the welfare of others.”
Students planting trees on campus on Earth Day 2016