At their peak, two adjacent Elon University sustainability events saw a line stretching from the edge of Medallion Plaza to the Center for the Arts parking lot.


EarthFest

Elon junior Sophie Seitchik attended Earth Fest, Elon Dining’s sustainability event, with two of her friends.

“I’ve been coming every year since freshman year and each year it keeps getting better,” Seitchik said.

Junior Natalie Dixon, Seitchik’s roommate, was also enthusiastic about Earth Fest.

“I’ve been going since freshman year, and I love seeing the cows,” Dixon said.

Last year’s Earth Fest drew concern from students because the cows brought from Ran-Lew Dairy for attendees to pet were positioned across from a hamburger stand. In a previous email statement to Elon News Network, Elon Dining Sustainability Coordinator Leslie Bosse said there would be no beef on the menu at this year’s Earth Fest to reflect Elon Dining’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.

According to Elon University’s Sustainability Master Plan that was released on April 22, Elon is looking to become carbon neutral by 2037. 

The stand next to the cows served floats with ice cream from Ran-Lew Dairy, and the stand across from the cows served strawberry shortcake topped with whipped cream made from Ran-Lew buttermilk.

Earth Fest featured the addition of several temporary compost bins to the path from Medallion Plaza along Lake Mary Nell.

“There’s so many little compost bins here,” Seitchik said. “It’s so important for the earth, for our sustainability, to make sure you’re composting.”

Junior Angelina DeMartino said she wanted the opportunity to compost outside of Earth Fest.

“My apartment is an off-campus apartment, we don’t even have recycling,” DeMartino said. “In the future I would like to have options to compost and recycle. It would make me feel better about my food waste and all the packages that I get, I’d love to recycle them.”

Sophomore Sam Montgomery, a member of Elon University’s Eco-Reps program, said many of Elon’s permanent compost bins have been removed recently because non-compostable items were being thrown into them. However, he also said the temporary compost bins were brought because much of the waste generated by Earth Fest, such as the plates and forks, is compostable.

Montgomery further said missorting an item into the compost bin can have far-reaching consequences.

“We have a phrase at the Office of Sustainability,” Montgomery said. “It’s, ‘When in doubt, throw it out.’ If you’re not 100% sure, you’re kind of hopeful that it’s compostable so you throw it in there anyway, you actually might be doing a lot more damage than you are helping, because if it’s not compostable, you risk leaving everything in that bin not able to be composted.”


Party for the Planet

Montgomery and other Eco-Reps’ jobs were to bring student organizations to run tables at Elon Sustainability’s Party for the Planet event, which was held right outside of Elon Dining’s Earth Fest. Party for the Planet was open to anyone and showcased the sustainability efforts of different student organizations.

Each student organization attempted to put their own spin on sustainability. Elon women’s club basketball offered reusable water bottles to paint, Elon Votes showcased different sustainability measures at the state and federal levels, and El Centro had people make “climate pledges” that they then translated to Spanish.

Earth Week events will continue throughout the end of the week until April 27.