Earth Day 2022!

Hey everyone, it's Rei!

April 22nd was Earth Day! Yay! It is a day to think about the earth and the environment, and to appreciate our beautiful natural environment. Since I am taking the Conservation of the Natural Resources class, I just learned something about our planet, and I would like to share some ideas about Earth Day and how to celebrate the day. The day itself has passed, but it is okay to celebrate at any time, no matter when!

History & Purpose of Earth Day

Earth Day was first proposed by UNESCO in 1969. The following year, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson called for a "rally to discuss environmental issues" and declared April 22, the day the rally was held, to be Earth Day.

There is no set format or rules for Earth Day. Each person is free to act according to his or her own ideas. If you think about the Earth and the environment even a little, and get involved in an activity that you can related to, no matter how big or small, you can call it an Earth Day-like activity.

3 Ideas for the Earth Day

1. Plant something!

Trees have many benefits, including not only keeping you cool (together they can lower city temperatures  up to 10 degrees), but also cleaning the air and producing lots of oxygen. Plant one beside a sunny window in your dorm or in garden in your house. Planting your own fruits and vegetables is also good for your health and saves you a few trips to the grocery stores and reduces fossil fuel emissions. I have fake plants in my room right now because sometimes I am lazy to water them, but I should use this as an opportunity to grow a real plants.

2. Join some clubs!

GREAN (Grass Roots Environmental Action Now) is one of the student clubs that organizes environmentally conscious activities. The club held a special event called "Invasive Species Removals" for the Earth Day. In addition, the club is involved in a variety of other environmental initiatives on a regular basis. The group holds meetings for students on Thursday nights at 6:00 pm in Hong 246A!

📍Birrieria Tijuana Lakewood

3. Appreciate the beauty and wonder of our planet              

    Most important!!               

It is a good opportunity to think about and appreciate the planet and all that is in it what we are able to live on now. I went out for Mexican food (pictures below) and had tacos filled with vegetables, and we realized how amazing the earth is for being able to grow such a wide variety of vegetables!

I hope the information above is helpful! The theme for Earth Day 2022 was "Invest in Our Planet." It can seem challenging to work on sustainability as an individual, but all it takes to make an investment is to continually move forward. Let's use this as an opportunity to gradually choose to be sustainable. And when you feel you've made it, move to the next step!      

                                                                                              

-- Rei

Spring Break Recap

 Hi everyone, it's Silje! 

Spring break ended this week, and while it is good to be back in routines and see people on campus again, I would be lying if I said that having a week off school wasn't much needed... And in honor of being back to reality, I figured I should have a little spring break recap! 

I started off spring break at the Seattle airport, headed over to California for a long weekend! My boyfriend's family lives down there so we figured that this would be the best time to go see them for longer than just a couple of days. We landed in Sacramento pretty late in the evening so we just drove an hour over to Vallejo, and went straight to bed. The first morning, we did a little tour around Vallejo (it was my first time there!) where we grabbed some lunch on First St. in Benicia, Mare Island, I had In-n-Out burger for the first time, and we went to see some of his friends and family to catch up. 

On the second day, we woke up bright and early at 5.30 AM to head over to the Mountains in Lake Tahoe! Lake Tahoe has multiple ski resorts (I had no idea you could go skiing in California), so we spent most of our day up in North Star skiing and snowboarding with his friends and family. It was bizarre going skiing in 60-degree weather - we even ended up getting sunburnt! On the way back, we drove around Lake Tahoe to get some pretty views in before the day was up.         

 On our third day, Sunday, we spent the first part of our day on a Good Guys car show! It was really cool - they had a market with random things you could buy, all from small nicknacks, posters, cool traffic signs like a Route 66 sign, and car parts. On the other side of the car show, there were old, authentic cars from as far back as the 60s. Some of them were original and really well kept, and others were completely redone with new paint and custom designs. After the car show, we went to his house for a good-old game night. 

On our last day, Monday, we spent the day going out to lunch and dinner with his friends and family before we had to pack up and leave (sadly). 

For the rest of spring break, nothing too exciting happened - we went out to a couple bars with a few friends, we went shooting at a shooting range, and took a quick trip to IKEA for some small necessities before school went back into session. 

That's all for now, folks! 

Until next time, 

Silje.