Several Washington University environmental organizations and student groups are partnering to host Earth Week, a series of events to raise awareness and find solutions to environmental issues, April 1-7.

The events include a keynote presentation on biodiversity and a discussion of the Green New Deal. The week will end with a recycling extravaganza April 7. Student Sustainability Board (SSB) will table in Edison Courtyard with information about composting, recycling and how to eliminate single-use plastics on campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday-Friday, excluding Thursday. On Thursday, there will be a fair from 3-5 p.m.

According to Student Environmental Council (SEC) Chair senior Hannah Schanzer, Earth Week will help people connect environmentalism with broader types of social issues and focus on offering solutions to environmental issues.

SEC encouraged student environmental groups planning green events to host them during Earth Week. SEC also scheduled to bring Pandora Thomas to campus with the Office of Sustainability and the Environmental Justice Initiative April 5.

“Pandora Thomas, the co-founder of the Black Permaculture Network, will talk about how to foster a natural living,” Schanzer said. “It is very important to hold the Earth Week to celebrate the planet, to bring light to everything that is going crazy and discuss solutions with different student groups.”

President of SSB senior Emma Waltman believes that Earth Week is a way to engage students who are interested in environmental issues on campus.

“I think it is pushing environmental issues to people’s sight and [will] be something that people have to think about what is going on,” Waltman said. “It is a great [way] to gain energy and momentum of the student body to really think about environmental issues and how it connects to every other discipline.”

According to Waltman, the reason why Earth Week is held in early April is to allow students to concentrate on the week’s events before finals start.

“Our events will kick off [in] April, not only celebrating our planet, but also raising awareness and motivation on environmental justice and climate change issues,” Waltman said.

Waltman is confident that the events held outside the Danforth University Center, like the bike tune-up, will bring in a lot of people due to the location’s high foot traffic. They will also host a panel on climate change.

“For Tuesday’s Wash. U. Climate Change Program, we are having at least four faculty members at our panel,” Waltman said. “Whenever we have faculty events, it turns out to be popular, because these faculty members often pitch events to their students in class. I am hoping to [see] half of the undergraduates engaging in Earth Week in some way.”

Junior and former co-president of Net Impact Caroline Suppiger wrote in a statement to Student Life that she believes Earth Week is an important event.

“In this political climate, I think it is more important than ever to celebrate this Earth. Not only is it vast, beautiful, kind and sometimes even scary, but also the Earth has taught us so many lessons and has proven to be incredibly resilient,” Suppiger wrote. “Earth week helps us recognize this while also providing insight into many different avenues to preserve our Earth. The students at Wash. U. have put together a number of incredible events and I’m so sad to be missing them while abroad.”