Columbia celebrates Earth Day after rainout last week

MU students want the school to improve recycling.

By Gregory Zajac

Published May 4, 2010

Citizens listened to live bands, perused locally grown produce and watched belly dancers perform at an Earth Day celebration Sunday in Peace Park and downtown Columbia.

The Columbia Earth Day Coalition, made up of 12 community and campus organizations, organized the event. It was originally planned for April 25 but was postponed due to rain on the original date.

"It's a celebration, it's an opportunity for education and it's an invitation to activism," Columbia Earth Day organizer Mark Haim said.

Sustain Mizzou, a member of the Earth Day Coalition, was present at the event. Student Advisor senior Billy Froeschner said there is no single method for becoming sustainable, but it requires a constant lifestyle evaluation. He said he enjoys the challenge to further reduce his carbon footprint.

"I don't think we should feel burdened by it," Froeschner said. "I think we should have fun with it."

In addition to addressing environmental concerns on campus, Froeschner said Sustain Mizzou is also trying to get students living off-campus more interested in environmentally friendly housing and transportation.

"One of the highest priorities is living off-campus, because a lot of things in North and East Campus are just a pile of crap," Froeschner said.

Froeschner said MU has made a lot of progress toward reducing its environmental impact, like establishing the MU Sustainability Office, but he said he would still like to see it achieve more. He said MU should take a more active role in campus recycling and pay to have it gathered, rather than using volunteers to collect it.

"It's still handled by volunteers, which doesn't make any damned sense," Froeschner said.

Columbia resident John Schulz said he was largely dissatisfied with the Earth Day event. Schulz, who is a Missouri Department of Conservation resource scientist, said the event lacked substance and was struck that people drove to the Earth Day event.

"When all this is taken down, what will be different?" he said. "How will the world be a better place tomorrow?"

His wife, Candy, who also attended, said participants at the event did not have the right priorities for an Earth Day celebration.

"It seems more about buying stuff," Candy Shulz said. "That's not Earth Day."

The Sustainability Office is also a member of the coalition and had a booth set up at the event. Sustainability Coordinator Steve Burdic said the office started a year ago to develop and promote ways to make MU more sustainable.

Burdic said the Sustainability Office provides the bins and carts for recycling paper and containers, but each building must provide the manpower, whether volunteer or staff, to collect its recyclables.

The Sustainability Office provides infrastructure to save energy, Burdic said, but also encourages conservation and action on the individual level, like turning off lights to save energy.

"Human behavior is a big factor," Burdic said. "Conservation has always been the cheapest and easiest thing to do, and it can have a big impact."