A Week of Earth Day Celebrations

Millbrook’s annual Earth Day celebration included a variety of different activities to support our steadfast mission of environmental stewardship.

While every day at Millbrook students, faculty, and staff recycle and practice environmentally friendly habits, our Earth Day celebration is special in that the whole community comes together throughout our week of planned activities to embrace our core value of environmental stewardship of the natural world.
 
In preparation for Earth Day, students and faculty gathered on Monday, April 17th, for sporting events and on Tuesday, April 18th, to watch the documentary Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secretwhich investigates how animal agriculture is the most destructive industry facing the plant, and why the world's leading environmental organizations do not want to discuss this issue. 
 

On Wednesday, the community participated in nature-related trivia games, and after classes on Thursday, April 20th, the community gathered on Pulling Quad for our annual Earth Day cleanup. After splitting into groups, everyone headed out on assigned routes to pick up trash across our campus and along local roads. Groups also worked in our community garden, processed recyclables, and engaged in stream cleanup to help maintain our wetland buffer zone.
 
The week concluded with a visit from naturalist, best-selling author, and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, Terry Tempest Williams, addressing the Millbrook community and spending time with classes and students. 
 
Her forum address covered many topics in relation to our natural world, including the history of the creation of state and federal parks in the United States, which she fondly refers to as “public lands,” and vivid short stories about her experiences with nature. A dynamic speaker, she also invited audience members to share their experiences with nature throughout her speech, as well as included music. 
 
“You know the privilege that you have, and there is a burden and blessing that comes with that. What’s at stake is our future,” said Terry Tempest Williams about the urgency to protect our environment and public lands. She urged Millbrook students to take action if they feel passionate about the issue of protecting our public lands saying, “you are so much more powerful than you know.”
 
The community responded to the forum with a standing ovation, and the on the following day, Earth Day, Terry Tempest Williams participated in classroom discussions, went on a nature walk throughout our 800-acre campus with Environmental Science students, and also took a tour of the Trevor Zoo.
 
Stewardship of the natural world has been one of Millbrook’s core values since the inception of the school, and these are just some of the many educational, empowering, and fun activities that students and faculty participated in celebration of our planet.
 
Visit our online photo gallery to view photos of these activities and more!

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