A pancake breakfast with syrup collected on campus, Arbor Day tree plantings, pop-up thrift shop and more highlight Earth Month activities led by SUNY Oswego’s Office of Sustainability and its partners.

Sustainability Director Kate Spector noted that many different students, faculty and staff are involved in planning and executing these events, showing the wide support and engagement in sustainability among the Laker family.

“Earth Month provides an opportunity to celebrate being responsible stewards for the environment but, while it sounds cliche, every month is Earth Month at SUNY Oswego,” Spector said.

A two-day celebration of Arbor Day will begin on Friday, April 24, with tree maintenance at the Centennial Arboretum (just west of Lonis-Moreland-Mackin halls on the west end of campus) in the morning, followed by afternoon planting to support Oswego’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. 

The morning tree work will take place from 9 a.m. to noon, while the afternoon activities will unfold across campus and include the annual Arbor Day proclamation and reading.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is an effort to plant more than 250 fruit-bearing and medicinal trees and shrubs on campus to provide edible forest and gardens. Additionally, this initiative will help reduce stormwater runoff into Lake Ontario and support a greener ecosystem.

Saturday, April 25, will feature the popular pancake breakfast at Rice Creek Field Station, using syrup from and supporting the university’s Maple on Tap program. In this initiative, students and volunteers collect sap from maple trees on campus to turn into syrup. Admission is a $10 suggested donation, and attendees also can visit with local crafters, sign up to win prizes and learn about related educational initiatives. 

Maple on Tap reflects the farm-to-table movement of fresh ingredients created locally to enhance quality of life and support the area’s economy.

“This year’s pancake breakfast focuses on local agriculture, and how important that is to our region and beyond,” Spector said. “The agriculture industry and especially local farms contribute billions of dollars to the New York state economy while supporting a large workforce, much of it in Central New York, yet sometimes people take this for granted. As a campus connected to rural communities and with a magnificent natural setting, we always keep this in mind.”

Earth-friendly events

As with other Earth Months, a wide variety of educational, entertaining and engaging events take place throughout April.

The Tour de Oz, from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, offers participants an opportunity to peddle around campus visiting well-known and lesser-known gems, while raising awareness about the BikeShare program the Sustainability Office provides.

A pop-up OzThrift sale, from noon to 4 p.m. on April 29 and 30 in 133 Marano Campus, invites the campus and community to find bargains in donated items to wear, use and enjoy. This annual effort, often accepting items as students move at the end of the semester, keeps tons of material out of the waste stream.

Rice Creek Field Station will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its accessible trail from 3 to 5 p.m. on April 30. The event celebrates the new Purple Accessible Trail designed to promote inclusive access to nature. 

This 0.6-mile trail features gentle slopes and stable, flat surfaces of packed stone dust and boardwalks to meet U.S. Forest Service Trail Accessibility Guidelines, suitable for many people who use wheelchairs, walkers and strollers, providing an enhanced experience for everyone. Funders included SUNY’s Outdoors for All program, Rice Creek Associates, the Shineman Endowed Fund at SUNY Oswego, the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, the Gifford Foundation, Brookfield Renewable and lumber donations from Worden Hill Construction. 

A natural clay building workshop, 4 to 6 p.m. on April 24 in 232 Marano Campus Center, is a collaboration of the Office of Sustainability and the student Clay Club. Attendees can build handmade toys and trinkets from clay native to SUNY Oswego, which they can have fired on a pit to take home.

Ongoing events include the Shining Waters Lakeshore Cleanup, running from 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through May 6; those interested in participating can stop by the Marano Campus Center Welcome Desk by 5 p.m. The campus community also can join open garden hours, 1 to 3 p.m. Fridays through May 15, at the Permaculture Learning Laboratory between Shineman and Lee Halls.

For more information and further events, visit oswego.edu/sustainability or watch future editions of Oswego Today and the SUNY Oswego Events Calendar.