(CU Independent illustration/Kelly Kaoudis)
Cheap beer, free clothes, hikes and games are just some of the perks of Earth Day in Boulder this year.
�This Friday is just about having fun,� said Sarah Dawn Haynes, a programs assistant for the CU Environmental Center.
The fun will take place at the UMC Fountain between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday. Collaboration between student groups and organizations, including 180*11, CU Slow Food and CU Recycling has coordinated activities including a 5K run, shot put and several giveaways.
�Students know that there are a lot of hard things happening,� Haynes said. �I think when you study this it�s also important to celebrate all the great things that are happening: The solutions, achievements and changes that we have been able to make.�
For Haynes, one highly anticipated Earth Day event is the Really Really Free Market hosted by CU�s 180*11. Community members are invited to bring their unwanted clothes and other items to the market and leave with whatever they please.
�The Really Really Free Market helps redefine reusing,� Haynes said. �It helps people understand that mentality of giving stuff away and not throwing it away.�
Maya Dank, a 22-year-old alum with a degree in sociology and member of the 180*11 student group, said the Really Really Free Market came to CU-Boulder for the first time in December of 2008. This year�s market is in collaboration with the Indigenous Support Network.
�The idea is that we�re creating a gift economy space,� Dank said. �Nothing is for sale, no money is exchanged and there is no barter or trade. We�re celebrating the abundance of resources we have when we all cooperate.�
Elizabeth Ordaz, a 21-year-old senior international affairs major and also a member of the group, said that while the Really Really Free Market fits in well with Earth Day�s purpose, she has some issues with the celebration.
�One of the flaws of Earth Day is that it kind of elevates the issue to just be addressed on one particular day,� Ordaz said. �It�s kind of clich� to say that Earth Day should be every day, but I think it�s about normalizing these things that we�re trying to address about consumption and the resources that we use and exploit in this country.�
Outside of the campus events, there are several community celebrations on Friday as well.
Edie Stone of the Om Time Yoga Studio is hosting a workshop about Peruvian shamanism and Celtic traditions in the evening. USGS geologist Pete Modreski is leading a late afternoon hike up South Table Mountain. Boulder Theater is hosting the 19th annual Microbreweries for the Environment benefit, where 19 Colorado microbreweries will be serving several brews for $2 each.
Other activities include a celebration at the Center for ReSource Conservation and a sustainability conference at the Woodbine Ecology Center.
For further information on all of these events, visit the Environment Center calendar.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Emma Castleberry at Emma.castleberry@colorado.edu.
