LiveGreen: RePurpose It and Earth Week ride again

A lunch box repurposed as an Easter basket.

Let the countdown begin. Earth Day (April 22) is exactly one month away!

I know you’re all as excited about that as we are, and we hope you will find our lineup of Earth Week activities fun, informative, and potentially prize-winning!

For instance, today is the first day you can submit your entries for the RePurpose It contest. If possible, please send “before” and “after” photos, with a brief description of what the item was originally and is now. For complete information and helpful tips to give you the best chance of winning, please visit our RePurpose It contest webpage.

If you missed our earlier Earth Week announcement lineup and are panicking because you don’t have your project ready to go, don’t worry. There is plenty of time to complete and submit your project so that you have a chance to win. Don’t have a project in mind? Concerned that you’re not crafty or handy with tools? Good news — you don’t have to be. Visit our RePurpose It Pinterest page to find no-tool/no-special-skill-required ways to repurpose items and make your life easier.

While you are planning for the contest, remember to gather up any electronic items, techno trash or batteries you’d like to recycle (did you change your smoke detector batteries at daylight savings time?), plus papers you want shredded. You can bring all of that to us on one of two (yes, two) days during Earth Week, and disposal of most items will be free of charge. Please see our website for full details.

We will have a bigger, better, indoor Sustainability Expo on April 21 during your lunch hour, with representatives from at least 28 different groups. There will be information on sustainable campus projects, and experts will be on hand to answer your questions and provide information for your home, lifestyle, garden, and yard. It’s all free, and we’ll have food samples, lots of door prizes, and a grand prize for visiting the tables.

You would think those three events would be exciting enough, but there’s more. Come to our campus Energy Goal Celebration with freebies to help you save energy at home, our Arbor Day Celebration with free trees and wildflower seeds, and help City Sprouts plant seeds for a community garden.

See you there!