The eighth annual Sustainability Expo, put on by the UNM Sustainability Studies Program, will be held on Cornell Mall this Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., free to the public.
Dana Sharp, a junior international studies major and part of the marketing committee for the event, said there will be something for everyone, including a growers’ market, food trucks, educational events and live entertainment.
“There will be live entertainment and also an opportunity for people to learn about Zero Waste,” she said, “to get the people involved and aware about what they can do to help.”
The annual expo is organized by students in the Growers’ Market Practicum class, taught by Jessica Rowland.
The class is broken up into committees who organize different aspects of the event, Sharp said. Sharp was a part of the marketing committee along with Pamela Quintana and Sher Latimer, and said collaboration was a key element of the event’s success.
“It’s super important. Everyone has different opinions and different ideas but when it comes down to it, it’s one event that we’re all planning and being a major part of,” Sharp said. “We all have the same goals. We want people to have fun and we want it to be a success for students and also the vendors who are coming.”
As the marketing committee, she said they chose the mantra of “Learn, Care, Grow,” as the event’s slogan. Their logo consists of the slogan around arrows signifying recycling, with a Lobo paw print in the center. Sharp said the logo fits their goals for attendees: learning about sustainability, caring about the environment and having the ability to grow as a person.
“It’s all about sustainability, how you can make a difference one step at a time,” Quintana said. “Living your life so there’s enough resources left for future generations.”
Quintana said that, during her time on the marketing committee, she learned just how much goes into running an expo event like Thursday’s.
“There is so much that goes into it,” she said. “It’s a semester’s worth of planning.”
Quintana said the planning includes contending with potential safety issues, parking and transportation, permits, regulations and much more.
“As a class I feel like we’ve come together and everybody works together. Even though we have separate committees, we all work together,” she said. “Our hopes are that people have a good time and learn about sustainability and get a better picture of what it might be and how easy it is.”
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Sher Latimer, another member of the marketing committee, said along with community members being involved, many student organizations pitched in to help run the event, including the UNM Wilderness Alliance, Engineers Without Borders and the UNM Food Justice Initiative.
Latimer said one of the biggest benefits of having the expo on campus is bringing awareness.
“Get people thinking about what they’re consuming and how it affects the world around them and (that) hopefully will encourage them to make better decisions to change the way we live,” she said.
Sharp said that while many people realize sustainability includes the concept of protecting the environment, it’s just as much about social capital and economics, making it appealing to students pursuing other majors.
“You can easily fit some sustainable aspect or something into your schedule ... I just think people don’t know about that,” she said. “It’s a major way to get the community involved, and not just UNM but also the Albuquerque area.”
Quintana said many students aren’t aware of the Sustainability Studies program. The expo provides an opportunity for the program to reach those individuals, encouraging them to take a sustainability class and even pursue a minor in sustainability studies, which pairs well with a lot of majors.
Latimer said, for her, sustainability is a lifestyle, one she hopes will catch on for others.
“I don’t own a car; I try to walk and bicycle as much as possible, keep lights turned off, keep things unplugged, just try to limit my intake of resources so that maybe they won’t have to produce so much,” she said. “I would like to hope the things that I do make an impact for the long term and change people as a whole.”
Matthew Reisen is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
