Celebrating Earth
By Barbara Sutherland Chovanec
Ashlie Simons, ’06, hands out information at her Clean Water Action booth.
An electric car that gets 245 miles per gallon gained attention from Earth Day attendees.
A student takes his turn on a slackline in Warriner Mall.
It may have been destiny that Ashlie Simons, ’06, would major in environmental studies and biology at CMU and would now work for an environmental organization. Simons was an Earth Day baby – born April 22.
This year she spent her birthday at CMU’s Earth Day celebration, representing the nonprofit grassroots political organization Clean Water Action. She’s a program assistant for the group, developing campaign plans and materials, recruiting volunteers, planning press events, and spreading the word about the importance of clean water.
“You know you’re making a difference every day, educating the public on things they might not know about,” Simons says about her job. She works in the Clinton Township office of Clean Water Action, which has offices across the country.
“Ultimately people care about what’s going on. They just don’t know how
to get involved,” she says.
When Simons was a CMU student, she helped plan Earth Day festivities as a member of CMU’s Student Environmental Alliance.
This year’s event was a lot bigger than Simons’ first campus Earth Day in 2002, but she says the celebration still has the same vibe, with information booths, live music, and a laid-back atmosphere.
“I’ve always loved how mellow it is,” Simons says.
Some of this year’s highlights included an electric vehicle from Global Electric Motorcars that gets 245 miles per gallon. Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity helped people plant forget-me-nots. People signed a university pledge to lead more sustainable lives. The Isabella County Recycling Center handed out seedlings. And the American Chemical Society Student Affiliates fried potatoes in oil that would later be turned into biodiesel.
Kylie Rymanowicz, Earth Day chairwoman of the Student Environmental Alliance, says she can see CMU changing to a more green university, with greater emphasis on recycling and other Earth-friendly initiatives.
“I really think the university is starting to change, and I can see things going in a positive direction,” she says.
“I’m just very passionate about sustainability and green issues. We only have one Earth, and the way that we live our lives is basically killing it.”
Rymanowicz says Earth Day activities deliver serious information in a fun way.
“A lot of people just don’t know what they could do,” she says. “We try to combine entertainment and education together in a way that gets students’ attention.” •
