Clarkson to Host this Year’s Sustainability Day and Green Living Festival
The Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley and Paul Smith’s College are pleased to announce that the annual Sustainability Day and Green Living Festival will take place on October 28, 2023 at Clarkson University. This event is a true academic-community initiative to celebrate, share and learn about sustainability initiatives and opportunities on our campuses and in our communities.
The effort is once again being coordinated by NoCoPEACS, the North Country Partnership for Environmental Action, Community, and Sustainability. The group includes academics, community organizers and local institutions who have organized these environmentally-oriented events since 2016.
This event is free and open to the public. It will include a green living exhibit and fair, workshops, posters and keynote speakers. The exhibits feature tabling by community organizations, renewable energy and environmentally oriented businesses, local food service, topical posters created by area students, outdoor learning activities, an informational display of electric vehicles. A fun and educational "Kid's Zone" is always a feature as well.
Talking Wings, the artist and activist couple Blake Lavia and Tzintzun Aguilar-Izzo, will kick off the event Friday evening, October 27 with a virtual keynote panel presentation as part of their LISTENING TO WATER SYMPOSIUM series. Their panel will explore - Waters Have No Borders: Working Together for the Great River and the Great Lakes.
Dr. Curt Stager will be the primary keynote speaker. Stager, an esteemed Paul Smith’s College Professor of Natural Sciences, is an author, radio co-host, and a science journalist focusing on ecology and paleoclimatology. His diverse background and communication skills have enabled him to contribute immensely to the long-term sustainability of the Adirondacks. He will speak about how climate change is affecting plants, animals, and people in the Adirondacks and what to expect in the future.
It is time to start thinking about how you can showcase your efforts at this event. Although an official call for submissions will go out later, this serves as an initial call for students, professors and teachers at all grade levels to consider how your club activities or courses can connect to this event next Fall semester.
"Over the past several years, people have responded with optimism that the transformation we need in our built and social structures can happen, and should include our local region," stated Professor Susan Powers, Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment at Clarkson University. "This annual effort has built stronger ties across the four County campuses and with our larger communities, including the Potsdam Climate Smart Communities Task Force, the Canton Sustainability Committee, the Local Living Venture, and Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County. These partnerships have grown and strengthened since we began in 2016, and we foresee an excellent series of events in 2023!"
Potential participants, exhibitors and volunteers are encouraged to contact the organizers at GreenLivingNNY@gmail.com or via NoCoPEACS on Facebook, and to save the date for October 28, 2023.
