By Elliott Davis
For The Diamondback
Hundreds of University of Maryland community members gathered for the seventh annual GreenFest at the Denton Community Quad on Thursday to learn about the importance of wellness and sustainability on the campus.
Attendees, exhibitors and university staff enjoyed the warm spring day with locally sourced food, activities and environmentally conscious prizes.
Lisa Alexander, the Department of Resident Life sustainability coordinator, co-founded GreenFest seven years ago. The event, which falls in April each year for Earth Month, aims to provide educational experiences for students on the topic of sustainability â from wellness to social and economic sustainability.
[Read more: UMD cut carbon emissions but increased water use and trash in 2017]
Students often tell Alexander about GreenFestâs impact on their lives, saying it exposed them to new ideas and helped them start paying attention to their consumption habits. One student told her that buying a sunflower at the event taught them the importance of harvesting seeds.
âIt surprises me every time,â Alexander said. âIt really shouldnât because thatâs the purpose of the event. But Iâm always like, âYes, Iâm winning!ââ
GreenFestâs exhibitor booths â many of which are student-run â offer interactive, educational activities, and attendees collect stamps at each booth. When they get 10 stamps, they can spin a prize wheel to win an eco-friendly item such as a reusable grocery bag, a spork or a glass straw.
This year, there were more than 20 exhibitors, including Dining Services, the Maryland Food Co-op, the Sustainable Ocean Alliance and the Office of Sustainability.
[Read more: 9th annual Good Neighbor Day draws 900 volunteers to College Park]
Alexander added that the GreenFest organizers made an effort to be âzero-wasteâ this year by purchasing a TerraCycle bin, which she said recycles âcommonly used items that cannot be recycledâ normally. For example, the bin can recycle the many snack wrappers that would otherwise go into a regular trash can.
The booth for the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, a student group focused on ocean conservation, had trivia questions on topics related to the ocean. If attendees answered correctly, they earned a stamp.
Maya Zambrano-Lee, the groupâs president, said the event was a way to engage students who might not attend the event voluntarily.
âGreenFest is a really cool event that allows residents, who donât necessarily go out of their way to go to sustainability-oriented events, to just kind of walk by while theyâre on their way to the diner, on their way home, and see all of these really cool environmental hubs that weâve got,â the junior environmental science and policy major said, âand learn a little bit more about sustainability on campus and how they can get involved and learn about environmental issues.â
At another booth, the Dining Services team taught attendees about sustainability through a cooking demo.
Semira Said, a sophomore nutritional science major, worked the Dining Servicesâ booth for the Campus Pantry, an on-campus organization that works to relieve food insecurity at this university.
âTo see how everyone is trying to meet the same goal, but in different ways of sustainability, and how weâre all interconnected in that way,â Said said. âAnd just seeing that visually out like this, I think itâs pretty cool.â
Poornima Krishnamoorthi, a sophomore finance major, said she heard about GreenFest from a friend who was working at one of the booths. Krishnamoorthi said she already tries to live a sustainable life.
âSustainability to me is just like, a lifestyle that can lead to the least carbon footprint and not be harmful to the planet,â she said.