By Mark Muckenfuss

Jayden Saecheo likes to think of himself as environmentally conscious. But even he was learning things this week as the CSU Monterey Bay campus geared up for EarthFest. The Earth Day celebration, starting at 3 p.m. Friday, April 21, culminates in the campus’s largest concert of the year.

Saecheo, the Basic Needs senator for the Associated Students, was one of the organizers of an Earth Day Carnival on Wednesday, April 19. That event was aimed at collecting donations for the Basic Needs program, teaching students the finer points of recycling, and having some fun in the middle of the week. 

Standing in front of a row of five-gallon buckets, Saecheo picked up an empty plastic Starbucks cup and snapped off its lid.

“Who would have known that this lid goes into the trash can, but the cup goes into recycling?” he said. “I didn’t know about that until today.”

Educating other students about which grades of plastic are recyclable and which are not, along with appropriately disposing of potential composting materials, was just part of the midday carnival event. Students could also win an iPad or an air fryer by racking up points on some giant inflatable games that involved kicking a ball at a massive dartboard, throwing velcro-covered axes at a target, or knocking balls off floating jets of air with a bow and arrow.

Other CSUMB events that coincided with Earth Month included the President’s Sustainability Committee Working Group poster display in the library on April 6 to 13, an Associated Students and Makerspace collaboration on April 17, a waste audit at the Otter Student Union on April 19, and Habitat Stewardship Project tree planting on April 20.    

On Friday, April 21, the main quad will host a variety of other activities starting at 3 p.m., including sustainable crafts such as making a tote bag or bird feeder, free 10-minute bike repairs, rides on the blender bike, and giveaways. There will also be showcases for student art and Greek life and information stations. At 7 p.m., the Otterlands concert kicks off at the Otter Student Union with DJ Sardine, Flaco el Jandro, and headliner P-Lo. Tickets are free for CSUMB students and $15 for guests. 

Ana Munoz, the AS sustainability senator, said the main point of this week’s events is to get people thinking about their impact on the environment.

“We just want to bring awareness,” she said. 

While recycling seems to be a part of everyday life – with dedicated bins that help direct the flow of waste – Munoz said there is still a lot of confusion as to what goes where. For instance, she said, even though some materials are marked compostable, unless they degrade immediately, they should be put in with waste headed for the landfill. Their presence among food scraps and other garbage can make legitimate compost unusable. 

Munoz said she thinks students often have good intentions but are unaware of such things. Some students seem more dedicated than others in their efforts. 

Cydney Gaither is a third-year global studies major who is also working on a minor in environmental science. She said she and her mother attempt to make their home in Southern California’s Rancho Cucamonga plastic-free by ordering shampoo bars online, along with reusable glass containers for bulk products. She thinks Earth Day-oriented events can help get other people on board.

“I have hope,” she said. “Without hope, nothing is going to change.”

Lacey Raak, CSUMB’s sustainability director, says more change will have to take place for the campus to meet its environmental goals. Her office is pushing a campaign focused on planting 2,030 trees, diverting 95% of the university’s waste, and becoming carbon neutral by 2030. 

With over 400 trees planted, “we’re like 23% of the way to our goal,” Raak said, “which is pretty good considering we didn’t do much during COVID.”

In order to cut its waste, she said, the campus will have to eliminate single-use materials. Recently, reusable containers were introduced as an option at Otter Kitchens locations on campus. Raak said such strategies will need to become the norm. 

“We need to shift to the expectation that if you buy food, it will be in a reusable container that will go back into the system,” she said.

On the carbon-neutral front, Director of Utilities and Energy Mike Lerch said CSUMB is making progress. He pointed out that even though the student population has doubled and the campus’ usable square footage has increased by 50%, the university is actually using less gas and electricity than it did 15 years ago. About 16% of current energy needs come from the 1-megawatt solar array on the east side of campus.

Additional solar power is planned for the future, Lerch said. Current projects such as retrofitting older lighting with LEDs, and capturing and using the heat generated by the chilling plant, will make CSUMB even more energy efficient. 

He and Raak said such efforts are ongoing. 

“There are opportunities for the campus to make some pretty bold steps,” Raak said. “We do have a lot of work ahead of us.”