One sign of Earth Day at Western Michigan University was a table for a longstanding campus environmental group. Old meeting notices in the Western Herald newspaper archive show that Students for a Sustainable Earth has been around since at least 1985.
At a table in the sun near the student center Wednesday, the group displayed scrapbooks filled with old articles and hand-drawn fliers for events long past, but also a QR code for students who would like more information about the group's current activities.
Fourth-year student and SSE Vice President Cameron Carlson staffed the table over lunchtime. It’s not the easiest time of year to recruit, since the spring semester is almost over.
"But some people have stopped by," he said. "They’ve taken pictures of our Linktree for Instagram and, I don’t think our TikTok or Facebook are very active anymore, but our Instagram is pretty active."
Carlson said the group hosts events including clothing swaps, vegetarian “Friendsgiving,” nature walks and trash pickups.
The table also featured a couple examples of "eco-bricks." Those are plastic containers stuffed with more plastic. When properly made, they’re sturdy enough to be used in some types of construction.
Carlson explained that to make an eco-brick, you take a plastic container such as a beverage bottle, then pack it with items such as clean wrappers and bags.
"You put them all in there and you try to get it as tight as you can get it so it can be used as a brick. And then people, organizations can use them for building materials," he said.
Carlson added that the group makes eco-bricks during meetings.
