In its commitment to sustainability, Western Oregon University commissioned the first LEED Platinum new construction residence hall of its size in the nation. The LEED Platinum status is a designation by the US Green Building Council which denotes Ackerman Hall to be of exemplary efficiency in both building construction and maintenance features. Ackerman has some unique traits that include a harvested rainwater system, solar thermal panels, and use of reclaimed wood from the construction site in the building's design. Ackerman Hall opened in the fall of 2010 to rave reviews about the beautiful, innovative, and sustainable features in the building's architecture. The building's first-ever staff worked hard to get the building up and functioning. For its second year of operation, the building's staff wanted to contribute more to the culture of innovation and sustainability. Thus, the concept of Earth Fair was born. Ackerman's 2011-2012 Resident Assistant staff started working in January to host an event that they envisioned bringing residents and community members alike together to learn about and celebrate issues of sustainability. To appeal to the community needs and interests inherent in sustainability, they began to reach out to other staffs, organizations, and businesses to participate in the event.

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Earth Fair was designed to be educational, sustainability themed, and open to the entire community. Sustainability, after all, is an issue requiring community awareness and involvement to preserve resources and privileges for future generations (be they Western Wolves or not!).

The vision for Earth Fair was simple: a collaboration of groups would come together on April 22, Earth Day, from 12pm-4pm to celebrate diverse perspectives on sustainability. There would be educational booths with simple and engaging activities to teach about sustainability, prizes themed to promote local and regional consumerism, and local, natural, and in-season foods to support sustainable food practices.

Ackerman’s vision – with the involvement of the campus-based organizations Green Team, Weekend Wolfpack Committee, Ackerman Hall Government, the Residence Hall Association General Assembly, Multicultural Student Union, Green Wolf, the Associated Students of Western Oregon University, and Valsetz Dining Center and community- based organizations Burgerville, Life Source Natural Foods, Koyote’s, and Yang’s – came to life. There were 15 booths ranging from face painting, flower planting, and trash/recycling/composting sorting basketball to a bottled water vs. tap water taste test, a paper vs. plastic bag comparison (with re-usable bag give away), and a recycled craft station. Booths were enjoyed by students, kids and parents, and faculty and staff.

Earth Day turned out to be beautiful! After a winter marked by flooding, the sun peaked out and activities and food were outdoors in the grove and sustainability inspired films including Flow, Wall-E, Blue Planet, and Food, Inc. were shown indoors. More than 40 volunteers (discernible by their baby blue Earth Fair t-shirts) kept things running smoothly as the 200+ attendees ate all natural beef burgers (or veggie patty alternatives), drank tea or lemonade served in compostable cups, and snacked on organic strawberries, dried pineapple, and mixed nuts. Attendees were provided with an Earth Fair Passport; participating in a booth’s activity earned one stamp; eight stamps and the attendee was eligible to win an Amazon Kindle or one of two bicycles with helmets. By simply showing up an attendee was eligible to win camping gear, eco-friendly school supplies, local business gift certificates, re-usable water bottles, or one of several other eco-friendly prizes. With everything arranged in a loop, the event culminated in a pledge for attendees to “sign” with a blue or green handprint that included an inspired statement about “…how we are all connected and our choices impact everyone on earth.”

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Earth Fair was designed to creatively educate students and community members about sustainability. While the emphasis was on environmental sustainability, the collaborative hosting and set-up of the program was intended to be inclusive to practice the idea that no matter the type of sustainability (environmental, cultural, financial, etc.), the community is at the heart of the issue. Some booths focused on cultural and financial sustainability (like the Multicultural Student Union booth and the booth promoting the 3/50 local consumerism project). Most booths sought to educate attendees about environmental sustainability in ways that affect people on a daily basis. Overtly environmental topics included recycling and composting, responsible transportation methods, reusing household items, coal emissions, and conscientious food choices. It was important to provide attendees with simple and engaging activities because of the potentially overwhelming scope of the topic, the different levels of knowledge, experience, and interest that attendees might bring, and the community aspect of engagement. One goal that developed naturally from the planning process is to make this event the first in what will hopefully be an annual tradition for Ackerman to host Earth Fair as a way to give back to the community and develop a culture of sustainability.

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Ackerman staff unofficially titled the program “Ackerman’s First Annual Earth Fair.” That a group of volunteers had the energy and enthusiasm to host Earth Fair to start a lasting tradition is encouraging and demonstrates the value they place on sustainability. In the planning process, some expressed excitement for the program, but not the date. “Why on a Sunday?” people asked. On a campus with a strong commuter culture and fewer than 6,000 students, how could the program do well on a Sunday afternoon? The staff persisted in hosting Earth Fair on Sunday, April 22 in part because of Earth Day, but also because the staff has been working to create a sense of community and an investment in the residential experience since September. Resigning to an established culture is precisely the attitude they were working to change in promoting sustainability; to accept circumstances as they are without trying to make them better is to be defeated. There are 1,200+ students who live on campus and deserve opportunities to connect and engage with each other. The strong turn-out (by our campus’s measure) is a testament to the positive reception of the program and the need to continue to host weekend programs.

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While the volunteers, collaborators, and attendees seemed to generally enjoy Earth Fair, Ackerman staff still brainstormed several ways to expand and improve the program for next year. The ten dedicated organizers were particularly proud of the turn-out, the quality and variety of prizes (many of which were donated), the free make-and- takes and giveaways offered at booths, the sustainable food and drink options, the hand print sustainability pledge, and the involvement and support of other groups. To improve for Ackerman’s Second Annual Earth Fair, the staff recommends more advertising in the off-campus community, more live entertainment, more passive booths to break up some of the activities, a stronger focus on how to live sustainability on a tight (college student) budget, and more cultural and financial sustainability perspectives and booths. Challenges to hosting a community-wide program like this for the first time included getting other groups to commit, and perhaps in organizing the event next year more campus clubs, organizations, and committees will be interested in supporting the event as an evolving tradition. The staff has helped to host a successful program, but perhaps even more importantly they have helped to shape an identity for Ackerman Hall and Western’s commitment to sustainability.

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Earth Fair is a concept that could easily be adapted to fit sustainability issues (whether environmental or not) on other campuses. By collaborating, an identity for the program can evolve from the perspectives that others bring and the issues they feel need to be addressed. There is a sense of community that evolves from hosting collaboratively, and there was a network of students, clubs, committees, other campus organizations, faculty, staff, and businesses who contributed to this program. Offering different types of activities (booths, food, prizes, live entertainment, freebies, movies, games/sports, etc.) can help reach a broader audience who might not have otherwise come to a sustainability themed event, but who will come and possibly learn something new. The program can be narrowed or broadened to target residential students, all students, students and faculty/staff, or the community at large. The budget for this program was $1,500 for food, prizes, advertising, t-shirts for volunteers, and Ackerman staff’s booths. Many prizes were donated by local businesses and the dining center (through rewards points it accumulates through food vendors). To host a program like this just remember: Earth Fair ought to be inspired by the people it’s meant to serve and the local community!

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