Earth Week 2023

 

Schedule of Events

(schedule will be updated as events are finalized)

Please follow UMaine’s COVID-19 guidelines for any in-person events.

Ongoing All Week:

  • Nature Photo Contest  — GCI is hosting our annual Earth Week nature photo contest!  To participate, just go out and take pics of nature and either tag us on social media or email us. We will randomly choose a grand prize winner, and 2nd & 3rd place winners. Location: Online and IN NATURE!
  • Healthy High 5K/10K  — Come run the Healthy High 5K & 10K race in Orono this April. Estimated race date: 4/20/2023 Location: Outside

Daily Events:

  • Sunday, April 16th, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM: Maine Bound Gear Sale — Sponsored by Maine Bound Adventure Center. UMaine Maine Bound and Alpenglow Adventure Sports will be selling new and used outdoor gear! Attendees are welcome to sell their new or used gear (hiking, climbing, paddling, snow sports, etc… no firearms!). See Maine Bound Adventure Center’s Facebook or Instagram page for more information. Location: Bridge Tennis Courts (next to Rec Center)
  • Monday, April 17th, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Environmental Mindfulness Mediation — Sponsored by UMaine SEAD. Come join SEAD in discussing sustainability and energy efficiency as we meditate–energy free! All experience levels encouraged to come. Hosted by local meditation leader, Dylan Taplin! Location: Wilson Center (67 College Ave, Orono)
  • Tuesday, April 18th, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Nature Walk and Talk — Sponsored by UMaine Green Team. Meet in the Bumps Room of the Memorial Union. Location: Outside
  • Wednesday, April 19th, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM: Pop Up Thrift Shop + Garbage Gallery — Sponsored by UMaine Green Team. The Pop Up Shop is a free clothing exchange run in partnership with the Black Bear Exchange. Students can donate clothing and/or pick up items for free. On display at the market will also be the Garbage Gallery, a community art event featuring works made with unwanted items. Location: Grant Room in the Memorial Union
  • Wednesday, April 19th, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Mitchell Center Talk – Dr. Adam Briggle — Sponsored by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. Sustainability raises a host of philosophical questions about ethics and values, knowledge and power, and more. And yet philosophy is not part of the predominant approaches to and discourses around sustainability. This is due to dysfunctions in society and in philosophy. In this talk, Adam Briggle will focus on the latter, by arguing that philosophers have fallen victim to disciplinary capture, which consigns them to irrelevance or, at best, very indirect impacts. Public philosophy, in various ways, seeks to change this situation, and it is having a renaissance. The talk will focus on field philosophy, which is a species of public philosophy that is both a collaborative practice of engaged scholarship and a theory of knowledge that contrasts with the disciplinary model of knowledge production. Adam Briggle is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Texas. Location: 107 Norman Smith Hall
  • Wednesday, April 19th, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Recycling Dumpster Painting — Sponsored by UMaine SEAD. UMaine’s Sustainability and Environmental Action Division is hosting a recycling dumpster spray painting event. With our pre-made stencils, we will split into teams to spray paint the residence halls’ recycling dumpsters. We will meet at the Hilltop Quad for some instructions and the division of teams. After the painting at around 5:30 PM, we will meet back in the Quad for some snacks. Wear old clothes and shoes as you will likely get paint on them! Location: Hilltop Quad
  • Thursday, April 20th, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM: Dr. Adam Briggle Philosophy Talk — Sponsored by UMaine Department of Philosophy and the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. Dr. Briggle is a field philosopher from UNT. He is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Texas. He is the author of A Field Philosopher’s Guide to Fracking (2015), Socrates Tenured: The Institutions of 21st Century Philosophy (co-authored with Robert Frodeman, 2016), and Thinking through Climate Change: A Philosophy of Energy in the Anthropocene (2021). He currently serves on the Sustainability Framework Advisory Committee for the City of Denton, TX, which is drafting a local climate action plan. He is also involved in social and political movements for transgender rights in Texas and organizations like Frack Free Denton. Location: Winslow 201
  • Thursday, April 20th, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Women and Plants Discussion — Sponsored by UMaine Feminist Collective and UMSG. A discussion about women, plants, and sustainable menstrual products. Activity: Planting Succulents in thrifted teacups. Location: Lown Room in the Memorial Union
  • Thursday, April 20th, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Dinner & Dialogue: Religious Perspectives on Care for the Earth — Sponsored by The Wilson Center and UMaine Office for Diversity and Inclusion. Join the Wilson Center Board for a conversation on what our religious, spiritual, or philosophical backgrounds teach us about care for the natural world. All are welcome! Location: Memorial Union North Pod
  • Friday, April 21st, 9:00 AM – 10:45 AM: Student Activist/Sustainability Social with Dr. Adam Briggle — Sponsored by Maine Sustainability Hub (MeSH). MeSH invites UMaine student activists to join Dr. Adam Briggle and mingle with other activist and sustainability groups on campus! Snacks and Refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP here. You can also sign up for our mailing list through this link. Thank you! Location: Mitchell Center
  • Friday, April 21st, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM: Nature Walk — Sponsored by MeSH and GCI. Talk and walk with GCI, MeSH, and visiting philosopher/activist Dr. Adam Briggle as we venture through campus and University Forest! A free lunch will be provided afterward at the Mitchell Center (registration required for lunch). Location: Outside (meet at the Mitchell Center)
  • Friday, April 21st, 6:00 PM: Student Government Concert — Sponsored by UMSG. Rapper Freddie Gibbs and special guest, Money Man will be performing in the Hilltop lot. Location: Hilltop Lot
  • Friday, April 21st: Spire Issue #7 — Spire: The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability is publishing its seventh amazing issue!  Spire issue #7 contains a variety of submissions, including art, poetry, photography, research, and personal stories. Access the latest issue and back-issues by clicking here. Location: Online

Earth Day!

More Events:

  • Tuesday, April 25th, 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM: People-Nature-Art with Poet & Printmaker Leslie Moore — Sponsored by Wendell Gilley Museum. Leslie Moore is this year’s winner of the Spire Cover Art Contest! She is a California native who continually studied and refined her art skills while making a career of teaching English around the world. Leslie is a full-time poet and printmaker who takes her inspiration from the natural world. Her book, What Rough Beasts, features both art forms. At the Wendell Gilley Museum she will explore the alchemy that helps her poetry and prints spring from her connection to nature. This event will be livecast via Zoom. Please note: past recordings are available only to museum members. The event begins at 5:30pm with a reception and book signing, followed by the main program at 7pm. Please indicate which you will be attending when you Sign Up Here. There is no charge to attend either in-person or virtually. Location: Online and In-Person at Wendell Gilley Museum, 4 Herrick Road, Southwest Harbor, Maine 04679