 "Photo: Courtesy Chris Castro")
Love was in the air last week during Have a Heart for the Earth, a series of nine events devoted to saving the earth.
The week was sponsored by I.D.E.A.S., the Student Government Association, the Body of Animal Rights Campaigners, Eco-Advocates, “Black, Gold and GREEN” and UCF Landscape & Natural Resources.
The week of action led up to Saturday’s Cocoa Beach cleanup and protest against offshore oil drilling along Florida’s coast.
The week began Feb. 8 with Meatless Monday, a day when participants chose only vegetarian and vegan meals. Benefits of going meat-free include lowered carbon emissions, improved personal health and fewer dollars spent.
Tracy Wilk, an SGA environment and sustainability specialist, has been working with campus vendors and SGA to promote the national “Meatless Monday” campaign.
“Not eating meat each Monday will unify the students while helping lower carbon emissions,” Wilk said.
The all-day event will be held each Monday. Wilk is also working on providing monetary incentives for those who participate, such as price-reduced vegetarian meals, a free drink with a purchase and more.
Bikes Save CO2nsequences, an event held by I.D.E.A.S., was Monday afternoon at Lake Claire. A team of bikers rode around campus and down Alafaya Trail to bring awareness to alternative clean forms of transportation, CO2 emissions and current climate legislation in the Senate. This was the organization’s third bike rally at UCF for the national CO2nsequences campaign.
As the group rode on, about 10 bikers not affiliated with the rally joined the group, totaling about 35 riders and three skateboarders.
“It’s important to come together like that,” said Meghan Ryan, the organizing and planning coordinator for I.D.E.A.S. “It inspires everyone to get involved on campus, just by a simple act of riding around and chanting on bikes.”
On Feb. 10, UCF’s animal rights organization, BARC, hosted a vegan “Sweets and Treats” potluck at Lake I.D.E.A.S. BARC offered vegan cupcakes and other treats as I.D.E.A.S. hosted a lake cleanup.
“Green Our Roofs” was held Feb. 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside the Facilities and Safety complex. Volunteers helped put together plots for the green roof on the new LEED-certified Physical Sciences building.
Mother Nature didn’t share the love Friday, leaving the planned UCF Gardens First Birthday rained out. The event was to be held at the Arboretum from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Despite the rain, members of I.D.E.A.S. still came out and planted more than 40 plants. The birthday celebration has been postponed until this Friday.
Students can spend the day volunteering in the Arboretum’s organic garden and have the opportunity to take home produce.
“Saturday was probably the best day of the week’s events,” said Chris Castro, the co-founder and president of I.D.E.A.S. “It was a freezing day, and we thought nobody would come, but we ended up having a great turnout, and it was a beautiful day.”
A group of 15 I.D.E.A.S. members joined more than 150 other protesters at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach on Saturday to support Hand Across the Sand, a movement devoted to raising awareness about pending Florida legislation to drill for oil in Florida’s coastal waters.
More than 10,000 people on various Florida beaches also joined hands forming lines in the sand against oil drilling. Protesters wore dark clothing to look like an oil spill over the beach. A fly-over was planned in order to take photos or video of the protest to be sent to senators.
“[Oil drilling] will affect tourism, the environment and marine-life,” Castro said. “And we came to get the message to legislatures that we’re not down with this.”
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