In the week following spring break, the Green Team has to organized events and activities to celebrate the planet and remind students of their impact on the environment.

“We hope that students will gain an increased awareness for the environment and how they can change their habits to make the world a greener place,” Green Team officer Kiran Rachamallu said. “The students have generally enjoyed our activities in the past and have been receptive to them.”   

This year’s Earth Week will commence on April 16, when members of the team will educate students about their carbon footprints through an interactive demonstration in the quad.

Wednesday is “Walk-it-Wednesday” where students are encouraged to walk, carpool or bike to school in exchange for a donut and a chance to enter a raffle for a hydro flask water bottle.

On Thursday, or “Talk-it-up Thursday,” the Green Team will be hosting a speaker series featuring State Senator Jim Beall, former Los Gatos mayor Rob Rennie, as well as Stanford postdoctoral student Gavin McNichol, who is working to produce a global estimate of wetland methane emissions. According to Rachamallu, the variety of speakers will allow students to hear opinions and perspectives from people working in different fields.

For “Film-it-Friday,” students will be shown a documentary film regarding climate change, “Climate Refugees,” during lunch in the Map Annex.

Over the following weekend, Green Team will be partnering with Save Our Shores to clean up a beach in Santa Cruz for “Save-it Saturday” and leading a hike nearby with a potluck afterwards for “Stroll-it Sunday.”

Finally, students will participate in an eco-art activity on the following Monday to finish off Earth Week with “Make-it Monday.” The team hopes that throughout the week, these various activities will inspire students as they approach Earth Day on Monday, April 22.

“We hope for every student to learn something new, and identify one thing they can individually do to help the environment,” Green Team member Riya Jain said.