In the United States, Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22. Since Earth Day is something that started at U-M back in 1970, there are always many student organizations as well as departments that ask us about ways they can bring awareness to the day and the environmental movement with their group. The activities below are ideas that we have seen groups utilize successfully in the past to engage their members, and might work for you or inspire your own creative and unique ideas.
- Check out a Litter Clean-Up Kit for a sustainable team activity you can do in a nearby park or public area or participate in one of the regularly scheduled Eco Work Days at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens or Nichols Arboretum! Work together to help keep our community spaces beautiful.
- Host a Planet Blue Ambassador training for your group. You can learn about campus sustainability efforts and resources and discuss together what sustainable actions you would like to take as a group.
- Gather scrap materials and build an insect hotel at your next team retreat. Insect hotels provide important shelter for our pollinators which are essential for our food system.
- Borrow a sustainability-related board game (or several!) to play as a team building activity!
- Use Nature-Rx to find an outdoor location where your group can take a walk or hold an outdoor meeting. Encouraging people to bring a picnic blanket is helpful.
- Organize a bike to work day and provide coffee or bagels for participants! National Bike to Work Day is typically the third Friday in May, but organize yours whenever it might be best for your group.
- Organize a department-wide Green Clean Day, and declutter your space! A Green Clean Day can help reduce unneeded materials and pass those supplies onto other community members that may need it!
- Take our Sustainability Walking Tour of Central Campus. This is a great way to get outside with your team, while learning about specific sustainability initiatives on campus and picking up a free coffee from the U-M Natural History Museum’s cafe!
- Host a vegan potluck. You can pick up seasonal produce for the event from the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market.