On April 22, 2020, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, DLC and the Town of Davidson hosted a virtual Earth Day. Our goal was to raise awareness and to inspire residents to take immediate action to help our beautiful, stressed planet. Offerings from the event include a composting video, how to recycle correctly, meet Pete Grisewood, Davidson’s Town Arborist, a nature connectivity activity, ways to decrease (and calculate!) your carbon footprint, and more.  An immersive, interactive experience was provided by Dr. Graham Bullock’s Davidson College US Environmental Politics and Policy course.
According to Dr. Bullock, “To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, students in my US Environmental Politics and Policy course were planning on organizing both an educational “Earth Day Village” on campus as well as a series of tents and tables on the Davidson Village Green as part of a bigger town celebration.  These activities were all planned in collaboration with Davidson College’s Sustainability Office, the Town of Davidson, the Davidson Lands Conservancy, and many other local partners and organizations.
Even though these plans were sadly thwarted by the coronavirus, I was so impressed by my students desire to develop a virtual online Earth Day experience instead.  They opted among several options to develop an interactive website about the history, dynamics, and status of a range of environmental issues since the first Earth Day 50 years ago.  Student teams developed individual pages on air and water pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, energy, environmental justice, food, and urbanization.
They did an amazing job combining important background information with videos, quizzes, infographics, and a range of resources to learn more and take action.  They worked hard to create a credible, informative and engaging source of information for visitors of all ages, with fun and interesting stuff for both kids and adults.  We also added the ability of visitors to earn a series of digital badges for visiting each page and learning about the different topics.”
The site is still up and running, so click HERE if you missed it.