TODAY — Earth Day festival: Students and faculty to explore better ways to protect the planet
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Yale will celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22 with a joint faculty/student "Teach Out" exploring issues of sustainability and climate, along with other festivities on Cross Campus.
Daniel C. Esty, the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, and the former commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), will moderate three faculty/student panels during the "Teach Out," which will take place 2-6 p.m. Esty served as the DEEP commissioner from 2011 until stepping down from the post earlier this year. He is also the director of Yale's Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Center for Business and Environment, and has also held senior positions in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Read Yale's Sustainability Strategic Plan for 2013-2016
The first panel, 2-3:15 p.m., will explore potential climate policy actions that can be taken at the global, national, and local levels. Panelists include faculty members William D. Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics, and Marian Chertow, associate professor of industrial environmental management, as well as students Alark Saxena of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES), Dave Christie of Yale Law School, and Alexander Vernoit of Yale College. Jennifer Milikowsky, a student at the School of Management and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, will be the student moderator.
The second panel, 3:15-4:30 p.m., will examine the challenges to getting the broad-based support and effective communications to make sustainability a compelling societal and global agenda item. Faculty panelists are Dan M. Kahan, the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law and professor of psychology, and Geoff Feinberg, research director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. The panel also features F&ES student Diana Madson and F&ES alumnus Justin Elicker, executive director of the New Haven Land Trust and a former New Haven mayoral candidate. Yale Law School student Keith Jamieson will serve as the student moderator.
The final panel, 4:30-5:45 p.m., will investigate what Yale and members of the campus community can do to contribute to a more sustainable world. Panelists include Mary Evelyn Tucker, senior lecturer and senior research scholar at F&ES; Andre Taylor, associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering; Melissa Goodall, assistant director of the Office of Sustainability; and students Yoni Landau of the School of Management and Tess Maggio of Yale College. F&ES student Lauren Sanchez will be the student moderator.
Assess your carbon footprint and more
Throughout the afternoon, there will be approximately 20 booths highlighting the work of faculty and student groups concerned with environmental protection, education, policy, and communications. Among these are the Yale Student Environmental Coalition, Fossil Free Yale, Yale Transportation Options, the Yale Sustainable Food Project, the Yale Environmental Studies Program, the Yale Climate and Energy Institute, Urban Resource Initiative, and the Yale Community Carbon Fund. A full list of exhibitors can be found on the Yale Office of Sustainability website.
Participants in Yale Earth Day festivities will also be able to taste local food, assess their climate footprint, win prizes, and enjoy other activities throughout the day.
Yale has committed itself under the leadership of former President Richard C. Levin to help mitigate climate change on the community level by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 43% below the 2005 by the year 2020. The university's Office of Sustainability has also encouraged individual and staff-wide commitments to reducing energy consumption and adopting green policies and behaviors.
The Yale Earth Day festival is free and open to all. The event is co-sponsored by the Yale Student Environmental Coalition, Fossil Free Yale, Yale Environmental Law Association, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Center for Business and Environment at Yale, Yale Project on Climate Change Communications, Yale Office of Sustainability, and Yale Dining.
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