Students gathered on Tower Lawn on Thursday to celebrate San Jose State’s 53rd annual Earth Day Resource Fair to learn about the environmental and social justice legacy.
This year’s theme was “Invest In Our Planet: Save Blue. Live Green,” featuring organizations Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful, South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, Vision Zero San Jose, Associate Students and more.
Former American politician and SJSU alumnus Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day in the spring of 1970 and continued to evoke waves of environmental awareness and activism across the nation, according to The Wilderness Society website.
Packaging freshman Oscar Torres said he was happy to see everyone gathering and roaming around at the event.
“Everyone seems to be enjoying it and they’re having a great time,” he said.
Environmental studies senior Kalanna Eldridge was a co-director of the resource fair and represents the
Environmental Resource Center.
“We had a lot more than what’s actually here today,” she said. “We have 45 vendors between outside organizations, student organizations and campus community in general.”
Students were able to sift through second-hand clothing racks, taste test-treated waste water and create their own eco-friendly slime to promote leisure and recreation opportunities
at home.
“College goes by so fast,” Eldridge said. “And doing stuff like this and getting people to interact and build your community really goes to promote and show overall what we can do when we come together to provide and give information and education
to people.”
With the help of the organizations behind each booth, Eldridge said students can walk away with opportunities to share sustainable alternatives with others and network with professionals.
“We work as a team to basically reach out to outside vendors,” she said. “We send out a form and we ask them if they would like to table.”
Santa Clara Valley Water District Public Information Representative Lakeisha Bryant said the resource committee reached out to her team to have a booth at the event.
“Talking to fellow spartans, talking to officials in Santa Clara County – there are city of San Jose people here that are offering jobs,” Eldridge said. “This is a great opportunity to come job hunting and really put a face to your name.”
Valley Water Assistant Officer for Water Supply Division Kirsten Struve spoke on stage during the resource fair covering topics including water purification and conservation.
She said her job has a lot of interns that are from SJSU and employees are SJSU graduates.
“Purified water is a safe drinking water source, and that is something we are developing in the future,” Struve said. “We are working on public acceptance, and it seems San Jose State students are
very accepting.”
Struve said SJSU’s water supply goes through Valley Water’s purification center, which is distributed from the South Bay Water Recycling Program administered and operated by the city.
“This facility uses the treated wasted water and three additional treatment steps: microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and UV disinfection to create water that meets drinking water quality,” she said.
In addition to Valley Water sponsoring the resource fair, she said the organization is undergoing a new project with the city of Palo Alto to establish a purification center that would treat water waste and replenish groundwater in the event of
a drought.
Environmental studies professor Katherine Cushing said we should be prepared in case of emergencies.
“We have to be ready to do the kinds of things you see these organizations, faculty and students doing right here: protecting watersheds, helping residents conserve water, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and working on community action projects,” Cushing said.
Environmental studies master’s student Raji Rajesh works with CommUniverCity, a nonprofit collaborator with SJSU and the city of San José.
The CommUniverCity booth featured dozens of small cups filled with soil and microgreens.
“We got microgreens from a local farm and are here to talk about healthy eating,” Rajesh said. “Microgreens can be easily grown at home and are highly nutritious too.”
A blue tent that reads “Go Spartans!” was tabling a selection of free food for students to grab a plate and eat their share of protein
and vegetables.
Sean O’Connell, Earth Day director and environmental studies senior, said SJSU has been hosting this event for over 50 years.
“It’s pretty incredible that this tradition has lived on in the university’s history and it’s special to be a part of it,” he said.
