Eco-Sense, AU's environmental awareness club, is holding a variety of events throughout the week aimed at raising awareness about environmental issues.
Eco-Sense focuses on supporting environmentalism on and off campus by raising student awareness, volunteering and initiating political activism.
Each day will feature a different environmental issue, starting out with "Trash Day."
"Most Americans produce 8 pounds of trash a day," said Erin O'Sullivan, president of Eco-Sense who planned the week's activities. "We'll be handing out plastic bags and asking students to carry their trash for the day in it. There will be a gigantic mountain of all of Sunday's trash on the quad with students sorting through it."
Tuesday will feature ecological activism.
"We will be doing the Kleer-Cut challenge," O'Sullivan said. "Students will be walking around in lab coats asking whether students can tell the difference between Kleenex tissues made 100 percent from endangered forest [trees] from tissues made from 60 percent recycled [paper]."
Wednesday will focus on sustainability, and the club will have a showing of "FernGully: The Last Rainforest" in Ward 1 at 10:30 p.m.
The group will also look at the plans for the new School of International Service building and intends to send thank-you notes to Dean Louis Goodman of SIS, because of the school's strides to make the new building environmentally friendly.
"Students have been a central driving force, as have faculty and staff," said Louis Goodman, the dean of SIS. "We think that our building should inspire our students, faculty and alumni."
Thursday's events will feature information about water conservation. Eco-Sense will have demonstrations about polluted Potomac River water and will hold a water balloon toss involving a picture of former AU President Benjamin Ladner.
Eco-Sense will finish the week by looking at environmentally friendly methods of transportation.
"There will be a hybrid car on the quad and a continuous bike relay around the quad," O'Sullivan said.
Many students however are unaware of the upcoming activities Eco-Week had planned. "I'm all for the environment," said Alex Puccio, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs. "If there's something exciting, I'll go."
Eco-Sense week shows the increasing trend of college students taking action to raise environmental awareness and interacting with administrators to enact change. Numerous non-profit organizations are attempting to help student-run organizations promote the importance of the environment among college students.
One of these organizations is Campus Climate Change, which is a national organization that works with over 500 colleges and universities in North America and Canada to help them organize rallies, meet with administrators and help educate their campuses in an effort to reduce global warming and address other environmental concerns, according to their Web site.
AU does not have a Campus Climate Change group, however Eco-Sense is also involved with raising awareness about global warming and other environmental issues.
