USC Celebrates Earth Month

By: Kristen Adams ‘25

April is Earth Month! 🌎  To celebrate Earth Month, USC is providing programs, events, and activities to recognize the beauty of our Earth and the importance of maintaining a green and sustainable campus. Here are some easy ways you can take part in spreading the love for our planet Earth!

Listen to the EcoAlarm Podcast

The EcoAlarm podcast is a student-run podcast at USC that highlights important environmental issues in the world by inviting environmental activists, entrepreneurs, students, researchers, and executives in each episode. For example, this episode outlines USC’s sustainability framework for a greener campus with guest speaker Mick Dalrymple, USC’s Chief Sustainability Officer. If you are a science major or are interested in a more science-heavy episode, check out this segment with Billal Zayat, Senior Engineer at Twelve, a company that aims to reduce carbon dioxide levels by transforming emissions into useful products and chemicals. 

Read USC’s 2028 Sustainability Framework

If you have some extra time, you can read through USC’s plan to be a greener campus. By expressing visions and goals across five different areas (education, research, equity and inclusion, operations, and engagement), learn how USC will implement new changes and programs by 2028 to develop a more eco-friendly and sustainable campus.

Subscribe to the Sustainability Office Newsletter

Want to stay in the loop on anything and everything sustainability at USC? If so, sign up for the USC Office of Sustainability’s newsletter so that all the news and updates go straight into your inbox. You can also follow their office on Instagram and check out their website.

Say Bye to Single-Use Plastic Bottles

Through USC’s new plastic elimination policy, all single-use plastic bottles are no longer available for purchase at on-campus and off-campus events. To learn more about how you can take action and move away from the use of single-use plastic bottles in your own life, check out this toolkit of resources.

Review Waste Disposal Tips

In Spring 2022, 98 multi-stream bins for waste sorting, in addition to the 136 multi-stream bins deployed in 2019, according to USC’s Office of Sustainability. By standardizing the sorting infrastructure and providing appropriate bins and signage, Trojans should be disposing of trash correctly in order to divert waste from landfills. Learn more about USC’s focus and progress on waste diversion and review important waste disposal tips with this short and sweet review sheet.

Conserve Water

By limiting showers to 4-5 minutes, turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth, and reusing shower water to water your plants, you can help conserve water in your daily life through small changes. If interested, you can also learn more about USC’s outdoor watering reduction strategy, especially since USC has a LOT of fountains.

Read the Annual Sustainability Survey Results from 2022

Do you like surveys? Do you like graphs? If so, you can check out USC’s full report from the 2022 Annual Sustainability Survey which over 5,000 USC students and faculty participated in. One survey highlight is that greater than 50% of USC is interested in learning more about sustainability (woohoo!).

Get Excited for Greek Week 2023

Unfortunately, Greek Week 2023 does not take place during Earth Month; instead it will be held September 11-15, 2023. From art and sustainability workshops to free food from vegan cafes to “Zero Waste” at the USC vs. ASU football game in the Coliseum, check out all of USC’s previous fun events and sustainability efforts from 2022.

Everyone can play a part in protecting our Earth. Whether you go on a nature walk, plant a tree, attend an event, or read an article to learn more about sustainability, you are doing your part in celebrating and recognizing our beautiful planet. 

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Trojans 360 is USC’s official student-run blog. Content created by students, for students.