International and Local Sustainability Events Come Together Saturday

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Moving Planet Day is an international day of events with global citizens calling for a switch to clean, homegrown energy. These events also focus on developing a lifestyle rooted in principles of sustainability, such as, reusing. This year’s local event will be held Saturday, Sept. 24, on the lawn of Old Main at the University of Arkansas.

It includes a “free-cycle” organized by the Student Sustainability Council. Everyone in the community is invited to swap gently used articles so they can be reused by others who need or want them. Articles can be dropped off 10 to 11:30 a.m., and the browsing is from noon to 1:30 p.m.

“We’re encouraging people to come to this event on foot, on bike, on skate or skateboard – some mode of transportation that uses renewable energy,” said Shannon Joyce, outreach coordinator for ecological communities in the Applied Sustainability Center at the University of Arkansas. “We know that some people will have to drive to get here, and that’s fine too – I’ll have to drive myself. But just being aware that there are alternatives, and using them when possible, is an important beginning.”

Moving Planet Day will kick off at 9:30 a.m. with a bicycle ride from the Fayetteville Town Center to the Old Main Lawn. The activities run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with live local music, several speakers addressing climate change, sustainability issues and public policy, and about 30 informational booths also related to developing a lifestyle with future generations in mind. State Rep. Uvalde Lindsey is scheduled to address the crowd at 11 a.m.

Everyone attending Moving Planet Day is invited to bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the day.

Moving Planet Day and Fayetteville Freecycle are being hosted by the Student Sustainability Council, the Office for Campus Sustainability, Applied Sustainability Center, OMNI University of Arkansas chapter, Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks, the OMNI Climate Change Task Force, Sierra Club, the Green Village Foundation, the Fayetteville Forward Green Economy Group and Energy Corps.

The event is in conjunction with the One Book, One Community project, in which students and members of the community are encouraged to read No Impact Man, by Colin Beavan. The book chronicles Beavan’s effort to live with his family for one year without having a negative impact on the environment. The process involved learning to greatly reduce their direct and indirect use of fossil fuels, and buying used products instead of new ones. Beavan will visit the University of Arkansas and give a public talk on his experience on Oct. 27.