Even though Earth Month has ended, the DePaul community continues to celebrate campus sustainability commitments. Just DePaul, a sustainability department, held an Earth Month Fair on April 30 in McGowan South.

Zayn Ibrahim, an environmental science graduate student, works as a sustainability coordinator at Just DePaul.

“This is a fun celebration thing to bring people together,” Ibrahim said.

Events are the primary way for students to engage with Just DePaul, Ibrahim said. As students expressed interest in getting more involved, Just DePaul partnered with the Student Government Association to create a Sustainability Committee.

“A lot of students are really interested in volunteering their time and service, and developing sustainability on campus, and making sure DePaul is green and eco-conscious,” Ibrahim said.

A Sustainability Committee will allow students to collaborate on sustainability initiatives they want to bring to their communities.

DePaul departments, clubs and community partners joined the fair to engage with students and tell them about the ways to get involved in environmental initiatives on campus.

Chicago resident Shane Alden owns Wild Dryad, an educational company teaching people how to identify plants and process them into food, medicines, dyes, art projects and baskets. At the fair, Alden told people about edible plants and mushrooms and Illinois’ ecosystems. He said knowing where food comes from matters to all people and unites them.

“That’s universal,” Alden said. “Regardless of whether you choose to care about the environment or climate change, or not, it’s something that, I think, affects us all.”

Alden said he likes exploring the intersections of how different cultures process food and the relationships they have with plants and mushrooms.

“Plants and food are something that connects all cultures, no matter what background you come from,” Alden said.

Alden said sustainability events, such as the Earth Month Fair, can be fun while teaching people about the environmental impacts of their everyday actions.

“I don’t think, generally, people realize how important it is to care about the environment,” Alden said. “Maybe when we’re in urban spaces, we don’t get the chance to at least see the impact that we’re creating.”

Katelyn Panti, a senior majoring in environmental studies, said Earth Month Fair teaches students about the current issues happening in the world and provides networking opportunities.

“It’s good to just be environmentally aware of what’s going on and just try to bring sustainable efforts,” Panti said.

Ibrahim said the Earth Month Fair “is not necessarily an educational event,” but a celebration that encourages conversation around environment within the DePaul populous.

“I really hope people get a sense of being able to connect with the community over a really cool and awesome topic of the earth and sustainability,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim said it is important to recognize environmental issues and make efforts to be  sustainable. At the same time, they said, the celebration and positive attitude unite people.

“There’s ways for us to be concerned about what’s going on in our environment, but also having some levity and joy,” Ibrahim said.

Just DePaul has also been developing a sustainability scholarship program. Ibrahim said it will bring students together to learn about sustainability from different perspectives and prepare them for their future careers in their areas of study.

The program will help students to develop professional skills and build a network.

“It’s great for visibility, showing our community that this is something that we are committed to and really interested in,” Ibrahim said.

At the end of the academic year, Just DePaul will organize a “moving out swap.” It will help students repurpose their items when they move out of the dorms.

“The idea of it is just trying to avoid waste at the end of the year going to landfill,” Ibrahim said. “Trying to make sure we are reusing items, recycling items, recovering items before throwing it into the trash.”

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