The theme for Earth Day, April 22, this year is Restore Our Earth. Here's a look at Earth Day-related events scheduled across the university. Download the Earth Day flyer.
Acting Sustainably Through YP4H, April 1-30
Sustainability isn't just about the health and well-being of the planet; it's about the health and well-being of you as well! Your Plan for Health, powered by Virgin Pulse, begins a month-long "Every Day is Earth Day" Challenge on April 1. Enter the challenge and keep track of actions you take that are good for the Earth and your health. YP4H also offers staff the ability to personalize health and wellness programming based on their interests, including sustainability. Log into the portal to get started. Under your user profile (top right of the screen), select “Topics of Interest” and select “Acting Sustainably” to receive daily tips on sustainable actions you can take to improve you and our planets’ health. You can also track sustainable habits and receive 15 points (up to 3 habits a day for 45 points) by clicking “Healthy Habits” under the “Home” tab at the top, selecting “Browse All” and then clicking “Acting Sustainably” on the left side.
For Earth Day and Beyond: Rapid 5 Plans to Expand Franklin County Waterways and Trails, April 16, 1 p.m.
Keith Myers, vice president for planning, architecture and real estate and chair of the nonprofit Urban Land Institute Columbus, will present the latest details on a comprehensive vision for Central Ohio that would create an extensive greenspace system unparalleled in the nation. Rapid 5 will develop five key greenways through Franklin County, interconnecting our five major waterway systems: Big Walnut, Alum, Olentangy, Scioto and Big Darby. The comprehensive system would ensure that all residents, including low-opportunity neighborhoods that have historically been cut off from nature, are within ¼ mile of greenspace or a park. It anticipates the expansion of navigable waterways for long-distance kayaking and cross-city biking and running trails that connect most parks in Franklin County, creating extensive environmental, economic, health and equity benefits for our region.
Wexner Medical Center 2021 Earth Week Lunch and Learn Webinar Series, April 19-23
Join the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Green Team for five days of Earth Day webinars: The Benefits of Using Solar Power from a Homeowner’s Perspective; You Don’t Have to Be a Master Gardener to Grow a Sustainable Garden Masterfully; Community and Health Benefits of Gardening; Climate Change and its Local Impact; and Why Trees Matter.
Environmental Professionals Network: Take Flight! Protecting the Monarch Butterfly, April 21, 6 p.m.
Take Flight! is an Earth Day celebration of local and global effort to protect and restore the monarch butterfly, an icon of our planet’s biodiversity. Take Flight! is a story uniting the shared journeys of the monarch butterfly and our cross-boundary conservation efforts from Ohio to Mexico, including through traditional lands of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and other Tribal Nations. While Its population in Ohio and globally borders on
extinction, this program will focus on solutions to restore monarch habitat and give tangible resources for all to contribute, including landscape planning by public and private landowners.
The Role of Law in Building a More Sustainable and Just Future, April 22, Noon - 1 p.m.
Climate change is reshaping our world in profound and deeply differentiated ways. It poses fundamental challenges to the rule of law. As the scale of the climate crises swells, so too do efforts to develop innovative strategies for addressing climate change at the local, state, and national levels. In the U.S., fluxes and flows in law and policy across recent presidential administrations vividly demonstrate both the degree to which we still lack a collective national vision for how to respond to climate change, but also the extent to which legal innovation across the public and private sectors reveals the depth and capacity of the rule of law as a powerful tool to confront the climate crises.
Restore Earth's Carbon Cycle, April 22, 1-2 p.m.
The Dr. Rattan Lal Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC) is hosting the Earth Day Webinar: Restore Earth’s Carbon Cycle, focusing on the carbon atom's important role in the restoration of our planetary health. C-MASC director and Distinguished University Professor Rattan Lal and assistant director Klaus Lorenz join multi-disciplinary speakers Sustainability Institute faculty director Elena Irwin, Gary Pierzynski and Jacqueline Wilkins to introduce the many ways we can take action to restore the Earth's carbon cycle.
Pale Blue Dot: History of Our Environment, April 22, 4 - 5 p.m.
Celebrate Earth Day with eminent environmental historians. Learn how environmental history informs our shared future in a world confronted by pandemics, climate change, droughts and floods, unstable food supplies, changing energy needs, and the threats of pollutants and toxins.
Earth Day: Green Solutions to Restore Our Earth, April 23, 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Wuhan University Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, the Ohio State National East Asian Languages Resources Center and the Environmental Science Graduate Program will be presenting a one-hour bilingual Earth Day program on Friday, April 23 at 8:30 a.m. This event will celebrate the 40-yr friendship between Ohio State and WHU. Register
The Climate Change Tipping Point with Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie Thompson, April 28, 12-1 p.m.
Globally, 2020 was the second hottest year on record as global temperatures increase at an unprecedented rate due to human activity. Here in the United States, the West Coast experienced intense wildfires and the Atlantic recorded so many hurricanes that we ran out of names. As climate change progresses, what is the point where we no longer can reverse the damage? Join this month’s Dialogue, a Glenn College of Public Affairs and WOSU series of provocative discussions about the most challenging issues facing our community and country, with speakers Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson, world-renowned climate scientists from Ohio State’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center.
Arbor Day at Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens
Trees of Power and the Mighty Chestnut, with Akiva Silver, author of Trees of Power
Thursday, April 29 6-7 p.m.
Arbor Day Celebration and Awards
Friday, April 30, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.