U. celebrates Earth Week on Green

Several environmentally-based groups gathered on College Green yesterday to celebrate Earth Week with displays of alternative energy vehicles and distributions of environmental information.

Earth Festival 2003, which lasted throughout the afternoon, was sponsored by the Penn Environmental Group and brought together several clubs from around campus to celebrate yesterday's national Earth Day.

As students and faculty members visited the exhibits, Bloomers, a female comedy group, performed a Captain Planet skit and several student bands played music throughout the afternoon to attract crowds to College Green. Several campus groups, such as Penn Solar Racing and Penn Students for Animal Rights, had tables set up and distributed information to those in attendance.

Among the exhibits was a solar racing car developed and driven by Penn students in a previous competition.

"We take two years to design and build [the car] and then race it for 10 days," said Engineering senior Dane Carswell, who is the leader of Penn Solar Racing, the group that sponsored the exhibit.

The student organization, which consists of about 40 active members, is currently working on a new solar car that the group plans to race against about 30 other schools in July at the American Solar Challenge.

Representatives of local businesses, including Whole Foods and Ben & Jerry's, were also on hand to provide food and beverages.

"We try to be a big part of whatever community we're in," said Meghan Kiley, a manager at Ben & Jerry's. "We do a lot of environmental work."

College of General Studies student Robert Smith, who works as a liaison between Facilities Services and the Penn Environmental Group, said that both had made "a lot of progress this year" in terms of making Penn a more environmentally conscious campus.

Smith mentioned the landscaping on Locust Walk and Penn CUPPS -- the "Penn Can't Use Paper, Plastic or Styrofoam" program -- through which certain restaurants and vendors provide discounts to students who bring their own reusable cups, as just two things that show how much impact has been made this year.

"We are working on reducing impact on the environment," Smith said. "We want to raise awareness of what we are doing."

Smith also pointed out the clean-air vehicles, such as the electric cart on display at yesterday's event, that Penn has invested in to reduce air pollution.

In addition to the cart, Penn has also purchased five natural gas vans, which also reduce pollution and are used for housekeeping and maintenance around campus.

Another alternative energy vehicle on display was the Kronosport, a solar-powered cart equipped with pedals that University maintenance employees will use to pick up trash.

"Instead of burning gasoline, we'll be burning sweat," Smith said. "All of this shows you how Facilities is working to improve air quality on campus."

In addition to the alternative energy vehicles that have been purchased, Penn has also ordered new "trash triplets" that will be placed around campus by September. These three-part specialized bins include a trash can, a paper recycling unit and a cans and bottles bin that "should help reduce contamination issues," Smith said.

Facilities Network Administrator Parmenus Bowler said that through these recent acquisitions -- as well as minor procedural changes, such as decreasing paper use and keeping computers set in "sleep mode," which has already saved $1,500 and 30,000 pounds of carbon dioxide -- the University is "trying to change the way that we do business."

College sophomore Rachel Gross, one of the organizers of Earth Week, said that the amount of people who attended the event and went around gathering information was "encouraging."

Earth Week, which will conclude on Thursday, will also feature the address "Can we live sustainably?" by two guest speakers tomorrow night and a film screening of an environmental movie on Thursday evening.

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