Local or organic? Grad students offer Earth Day food for thought

12 p.m. to 1 p.m., & 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, April 21

Paper or plastic? Local or organic? Two events scheduled to take place April 21 – the day before Earth Day – are bringing students, faculty, staff and the community together to explore how to be responsible consumers in the 21st century and to celebrate Earth Day and another year of the online publication The Sustainability Review.

Edited and published quarterly by graduate students from the School of Sustainability, School of Art, and Department of English, The Sustainability Review (TSR) aims to make sustainability accessible for as many people as possible.

A free lunch and discussion of the impact of our buying choices will be part of a speaker panel from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., in room 481 of Wrigley Hall (formerly Global Institute of Sustainability building). Experts Kevin J. Dooley, Brad Allenby, Eric Williams and Ramzy Kahhat will shed light on how we can spend our dollars wisely with the least impact on Earth.

"Products and supply chains are really complicated, and it's hard to know what to buy to help the environment," said Rob Kutter, TSR editor in chief. "We'd like to give people a chance to ask experts those burning questions like, 'Should I get paper, or plastic, or neither?'"

The conversation will continue off-campus, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Boulders on Broadway, located at 530 W. Broadway Rd., in Tempe, for a "Pre-Earth Day Party." There will be free food and art.

"The event at Boulders is a chance to hang out, meet some new people and enjoy free food," Kutter said. "We'll have art from TSR on display, too. Everyone is welcome including students, faculty and residents."

For more information, contact Kutter at robert.kutter@asu.edu. To RSVP to the panel discussion and lunch event via Facebook, click here. To RSVP to the Pre-Earth Day Party via Facebook, click here.