Earth Week 2023

Generations Uniting to Address Climate Change

Friday, April 21, 2023
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center
Moderated by Vice Admiral Lee Gunn (retired U.S. Navy).

Around the globe, people are joining scientists, governments, and environmental organizations to understand and address climate change. The City of Virginia Beach and Virginia Wesleyan University, in partnership with The Gunn Group, are proud to host “Generations Uniting to Address Climate Change,” a symposium to prepare our community for our changing environment. A panel of experts from science, policy, and communication backgrounds will discuss the climate crisis’ evolution, impacts and solutions. A career and volunteer fair featuring local environmental organizations is being held in the lobby before and after the symposium. The symposium is free and open to anyone looking to be inspired by changemakers from across the generations. 

Schedule

1:00 - 1:30 p.m. Green Fair
1:30 - 3:20 p.m. Panel Discussion (Livestream)

Panelists: 

3:20 - 4:00 p.m. Green Fair


Sponsored by the Joan P. Brock School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Robert Nusbaum Center at VWU, The Gunn Group, and the City of Virginia Beach

"A Greener Tomorrow" Opening Ceremony

Monday, April 17, 2023
6:00 p.m.
Brock Commons
Presentation by the Student-led Marlin Business Conference

Keynote Address by Scott Whitehurst, Director of Environmental Policy and Compliance, Port of Virginia

Gardens of the Greer

Greer Environmental Sciences Center Garden Tour

Friday, April 21, 2023
12:30 - 1:00 p.m. or 4:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Led by students and campus horticulturalist, Skyler Lattuca

The beauty of the Greer Environmental Sciences Center extends far beyond the building's walls. On its exterior, set within a 145,000-square-foot area, visitors will find a series of teaching gardens created with native plants inspired by the ecosystems of the Eastern Shore, two upland meadow gardens, three wetland gardens, and nearly 60 different plant species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, ferns, perennials, and aquatic plants. 

 

Register for the Garden Tour

Rising Tides, Rising Tensions Art Exhibit

March 6 – April 28, 2023
Barclay Sheaks Gallery, Hofheimer Library

Many neighborhoods in Coastal Virginia that have long suffered from the effects of redlining, exclusionary zoning, discriminatory lending, public housing policy, highway construction, hotter summer temperatures, and underfunded public schools are now some of the same communities that are most vulnerable to the impacts of recurrent flooding. This exhibit seeks to engage the Hampton Roads community in conversations about how race has shaped and continues to shape the landscape of the region.

Rising Tides, Rising Tensions Art Exhibit Tour 

Friday, April 21, 2023
4:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Led by local artist, Renee Calway

Register for the Art Exhibit Tour

Protein Wars

Thursday, April 20, 2023
12:00 – 12:50 p.m.
Brock Commons
Presentation by Sid Dobrin ’89

Given the reliance so many have on the ocean for both economic and nutrition security, the world’s oceans have been and continue to be sites of international conflict. This presentation will situate some of these conflicts historically and, then, address several of these contemporary conflicts in order to consider the role of ocean harvest in national protein security. The presentation will also examine the ways in which ocean warming, acidification, and low oxygen levels impact fisheries and fisheries harvest, thus playing a role in global protein security and international conflicts. Sid Dobrin, Virginia Wesleyan Class of 1989, is Professor and Chair of the English Department at the University of Florida. His publications include "Blue Ecocriticism and the Oceanic Imperative" and "Fishing, Gone? Saving the Ocean through Sportfishing". 

Arbor Day Foundation Tree Campus Recognition

Friday, April 21, 2023
9:00 a.m.

Tree planting at University Commons

Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future

Friday, April 21, 2023
11:00 – 11:50 a.m.
Blocker Hall Auditorium
Presentation by Greg Melville

Is it possible to drive coast to coast without stopping at a single gas pump? Journalist Greg Melville, who's in love with the idea of free fuel, sets out on an enlightening road trip with his friend, seeking to be the first people to drive cross-country in a car powered on vegetable oil collected from restaurant grease dumpsters along the way. Join us for an upbeat, funny story about sustainability in the United States, about what we can do and where we’re going, through the lens of a very unusual journey.  Author and journalist Greg Melville has written for Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Health, Slate and the Boston Globe Magazine. Melville is a decorated veteran who served in Afghanistan and is in the Navy Reserve, where he is a public affairs officer.
Presented by the VWU Robert Nusbaum Center.

Earth Day Clean-up and Seed Bombing

Saturday, April 22, 2023
12:30 to 2:00 p.m.

Meet in Batten Honors College parking lot

Eco-Conscious LOVE

Struggling recycling centers and contaminated recycle bins threaten the sustainability of recycling efforts in our community. Eco-Conscious LOVE was created with the community and for the community to bring awareness to the issue and to facilitate conversation about reducing, reusing and rethinking consumption.

Made from reclaimed wood, chicken wire, repurposed plastic lids and non-recyclable pieces, and painted to represent the beauty of our coastal location, the exhibit also functions as a recycling bin.

 Eco-Conscious LOVE was created by local artist Renée Calway with support from artists Michael Corcoran, Isabella Millen and Sonya Sunnydayz.

Community organizations that contributed to the development and creation of Eco-Conscious LOVE include Home Depot, Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, Lynnhaven River Now, The DoArtNetwork, The VIBE Creative District, Virginia Beach Oceanfront Public Library, and Virginia Tourism Corporation.