Two activities will be offered to the few students aware that today is Campus Sustainability Day. The rest of the student body will not even know it is going on.

Campus Sustainability Day is being celebrated on college campuses throughout the country to mark the importance of going green.

But while Washington University considers itself a leader in collegiate sustainability, boasting its participation in the day in an official press release, many school officials and students both consider the day unimportant.

According to Deborah Howard, interim director of sustainability, the day is not a true priority, and communication about it is limited to word of mouth.

“We wanted to support it, but that’s all,” Howard said. “Obviously it’s something that’s important to us, but 365 days a year, not just the one day.”

Students were similarly nonplussed about the upcoming celebration. Sunjoo Cho, a junior, admitted to never having heard of Campus Sustainability Day.

“I have heard of campus sustainability, but I didn’t know they had a day,” Cho said.

Events occurring during the day include a bike ride from the medical campus to Brookings and around Forest Park and a locally sourced dinner at Ibby’s.

Jessica Daues, senior news writer for the University News Service, who is serving as the contact for the bike ride, sees the ride as a way for members of the University community to show their support for sustainable forms of transportation. Most students, however, will probably not notice it, as the ride is mostly off campus and inconspicuous.

“There’s not going to be a huge sign saying we’re from Wash. U. or something like that,” Daues said.

Other events occurring in the upcoming week include a guided arbor tour on Thursday and a sustainability symposium on Oct. 26 on “The Sustainability Challenge: Local to Global.”

The symposium, which is independently organized by University College, is intended to publicize their newly introduced bachelor’s degree in sustainability. The major allows a variety of concentrations, and there are already a dozen students in the program.

The new major marks one of several recent steps in the University’s push to become eco-friendly.

Last week, the Tyson Living Learning Center was one of the first two buildings in the world to meet the “living building” challenge. It has zero net energy use and produces no wastewater.

The University’s Office of Sustainability is also working on collecting data for the new Association of Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education official rating system for green campuses, which will allow colleges to see what steps are being taken by other schools.

“It’s a significant step forward,” Howard said.

As for tomorrow’s activities, the bike ride will meet at the bottom of the Brookings stairway at noon. Students interested will need to wear helmets and sign medical releases, even though the ride along the Forest Park bike path is reportedly not dangerous. A similar ride just for faculty and staff members took place over the summer.

The three-course dinner at Ibby’s will be from 5-10 p.m. and will cost $25.

The guided arbor tour will begin in the garden in front of Brookings at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

The sustainability symposium on Oct. 26 will take place in Steinberg Auditorium at 7 p.m.