Media Advisory

Sustainable UF to host events to celebrate Campus Earth Week, April 1 – 6

UF’s Office of Sustainability will celebrate Campus Earth Week with a series of events taking place from April 1 – 6. This year’s celebration will open with a keynote lecture and book signing by expert and scholar Julian Agyeman at the University Auditorium on Monday, April 1 at 6 pm.

Agyeman is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, and is the originator of the concept of ‘just sustainabilities,’ the intentional integration of social justice and sustainability. His research focuses on critical explorations of the complex and embedded relations between humans and the urban environment and their effects on public policy and planning processes and outcomes, particularly in relation to justice and equity.

He is the author or editor of 11 books and is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability. Agyeman’s wide-ranging and influential publications have had more than 10,000 citations, landing him among the top 20 most highly cited urban planning academics in North America. His next book, Immigration, Immigrants, Agriculture and Food in North America, will be published by MIT Press in early 2020.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 pm. A Q&A and book signing will follow at the conclusion of the keynote. More information about the keynote lecture can be found at: http://sustainable.ufl.edu/julian-agyeman/.

Campus Earth Week will also include the annual Sustainability Showcase on Wednesday, April 3 from 10 am – 2 pm at the Reitz Union breezeway. This interactive tabling and activity fair will feature more than 20 campus and community organizations representing a variety of sustainability topics. For more information about the showcase, visit http://sustainable.ufl.edu/sustainability-showcase/.

As part of the Campus Earth Week events, the Office of Sustainability and the Healthy Gators Coalition will recognize the 2019 recipients of the annual Champions for Change Awards at a ceremony and reception on April 3. These ten individuals and groups were selected for their unique contributions to the areas of sustainability and health and well-being during their time at UF. More information about the Champions for Change program can be found at: http://sustainable.ufl.edu/champions-for-change-awards/.

Campus Earth Week will conclude with the inaugural Clean-Upalooza – the first-ever concurrent campus clean-up and invasive plant removal event at UF – from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm on Saturday, April 6. Volunteers of all ages are invited to join the Office of Sustainability in removing litter, recycling and invasive plants from one of four conservation areas around campus as part of UF’s Tree Campus USA initiative. More information and a volunteer registration link can be found at: http://sustainable.ufl.edu/clean-upalooza-campus-earth-week/.  

Information about all of the Campus Earth Week events taking place at UF can be found at http://sustainable.ufl.edu/2019-campus-earth-week/ or by e-mailing info@sustainability.ufl.edu.

Contact: Allison Vitt, avitt@ufl.edu / 352.392.7214