Earth Action Day!

These days, and particularly this week, being green is the hip thing to do. However, I like to think that the Weiss Fellas were hip far before our time. A few of us have never owned a car, many bike as their chosen form of transportation and even I, with my very-unhip SUV, made it an entire week without driving. It seems fitting, then, that our final event of the semester be Earth Action Day.

On Saturday, the Weiss Fellows will be pitching in to help make Earth Action Day great. We will be directing traffic, helping with performance art and generally guiding visitors to the Plaza to the variety of booths, activities and vendors.

So why this project? The answer is two fold. First, one of our complaints/frustrations/challenges as first year graduate students, many of whom are not North Carolinians, is that we didn't know where to start in Chapel Hill. Working with Wes from Parks and Rec for Earth Action Day starts a relationship between the Weiss Fellows and the Town of Chapel Hill that we hope can be sustained by future generations. Second, it combines elements of all of our interests. Jes Speed lit up at the opportunity to work with tiny earth ballerinas. Jess Lewis is excited to work with vendors. For the rest of us, interested in community building, local government or environmental issues, Earth Action Day also serves us. It even gives Audrey the opportunity to reconnect with Earth Day, which she used to organize in high school!

It is my hope that Earth Action Day both demonstrate our dedication to the environment and finding solutions that are practical and sustainable (another very hip idea), but that also begins to build an individual and group relationship with the town that sustains our university. Look for pictures on Sunday!