Arbor Day, like Earth Day, is a national holiday centered around the celebration and appreciation of the natural world, specifically through the planting of trees across the nation. It is normally celebrated on the last Friday of April, although many states around the country host celebrations throughout the month. Tree Campus Higher Education, in partnership with NSU’s Nature Club, the Green Sharks Sustainability Club and Epsilon Eta Environmental Fraternity, joined the festivities with NSU’s annual Arbor Day Festival, on April 21 from noon until 4 p.m.
The host of the festival, Tree Campus Higher Education, is an Arbor Day foundation program whose mission is to help “colleges and universities grow their community forests, achieve national recognition and create a campus their students and staff are proud of,” according to the official Tree Campus website. In accordance with NSU, Tree Campus is helping to promote and provide the means to make the campus a little greener.
Junior biology and marine science major and the President of NSU’s Nature Club Joseph Dubner said, “NSU and Tree Campus Higher Education deal with the development of the tree canopy on campus. So, every year they do an Arbor Day celebration where they host a planting ceremony for a tree that’s being planted on campus.”
Dubner said that the Nature Club set up tables near the wildflower garden where they spoke about being sustainable in college, why biodiversity is important especially regarding the importance of preserving native plants and removing invasive ones, what natural history is and the issue of greenwashing, which is when companies or organizations put up the façade of being environmentally friendly. Students who attended participated in these important discussions while enjoying s’mores the club provided.
“We also had a wildflower planting ceremony,” said Dubner. “We had money from the IOC that we were able to put towards buying plants from a local nursery called Tree Amigos Growers, who are well known in the area for providing native plants.”
The event itself spanned beyond the Nature Club’s ceremony, as the festival hosted food trucks and outside vendors, alongside visits from local environmental agencies such as the Florida Department of Environmental Conservation. Dubner explained the importance of events like these and urged students who couldn’t attend to try for next year or even get involved with local environmental clubs or organizations as well.
“For someone like me who focuses on coastal marine ecosystems, I constantly think about the interactions between humans and the environment every time I go outside. But a lot of people who don’t put their lives into environmental sciences don’t think about it that often. So, in having events like Arbor Day and Earth Day we can push these ideas of sustainability and the importance of being mindful of our consequences to the forefront, as well as informing people of misinformation because there’s a lot out there.”
Dubner continued, explaining the positive outcomes of these events.
“It opens up conversations of thinking in the long term, not just about what’s happening next week or the week after but what the next generation, the future of humanity, is going to have to deal with and what we can do right now to make things better in the long run. Green Sharks Sustainability Club is currently filing a petition to get NSU to stop using so many disposable plastics, particularly for food and dining services, given the consistent use and availability of single use plastics.”
