By: Ashlee Irons
Posted In: News
Photo credit: Ashlee Irons
Committee members Emeline Walker and Kathleen Styger outside of Wakehurst on Earth Day.
NEWPORT, R.I. – Three area business, Office Max, Ben and Jerry’s and Starbucks, took part in Salve Regina’s Earth Day celebration that was held outside Wakehurst on April 21.
“I’m excited to see Salve’s active involvement in Earth Day,” said sophomore Ian Kerr. “It’s a good step toward a more environmentally aware campus.” Inside Wakehurst, “Turning Your Spoils into Soils,” a movie from the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management, was playing. The movie featured a how-to about making home compost for your garden. Two laptops were also set up with interactive websites including benjerry.com and earthday.net. Bob Manning, a local sales representative for Office Max, had a table covered in environmentally friendly products. Manning was giving away free samples of everything from recycled paper, file folders, pencils, scissors and white out tape. Manning explained that manufactures are getting more involved in recycling. Office Max’s supply catalogues even have a special index for their recycled products alone. “In today’s day and age, a lot of stuff you can’t get in any form other than recycled,” said Manning. Ben and Jerry’s provided informative brochures on their environmental practices such as waste reduction, recycling, energy efficiency and sustainable agriculture. Ben and Jerry’s also donated Lemonade Sorbet, Cookie Dough and Cherry Garcia ice cream; students especially enjoyed the free ice cream on the sunny afternoon. Committee member Emeline Walker smiled then said, “At least it’s a beautiful day. I had nightmares it was going to pour.” The company website, benjerry.com states, “By definition, the manufacturing of products creates waste. We strive to minimize our negative impact on the environment.” Starbucks donated packages of coffee grinds which can be mixed with soil for gardening. Starbucks was promoting Earth Day in their stores by offering “Make Earth Day Matter,” pamphlets outlining Earth Day cleanups that were being held around New England. The pamphlets provided dates, times and places for each event. One of the local highlights was a cleanup at Ballard Park in Newport. Kathleen Styger, a member of Salve Regina’s environmental committee, noted that the Earth Day celebration helped raise awareness about keeping people Earth friendly. The purpose of the Environmental Committee is to enhance mission effectiveness by bringing awareness to the fact that people are stewards of God’s creation. The goal of the committee is to address environmental concerns pertinent to the university and the surrounding community. The committee, though recently created, was also responsible for bringing the recycling program to Salve. Members of the committee include: Sr. Leona, Dr. Jameson, Dr. Myra Edelstein, Bill Hall, Francine Monfett, Fr. Tom O’Niell, Jeffrey Weikert, Sarah B. Kelly, Kathleen Styger, and Emeline Walker. Styger hopes the committee size will continue to grow. Anyone who is interested in joining can contact jameson.chase@salve.edu. “Hopefully we can do something big for Earth Day next year,” said Styger.
