Beyond Earth Day, Oregon State University’s annual Earth Day celebration, returns this week, complete with events ranging from Keynote speaker presentations, service projects and trivia nights, to the routine Earth Day of Service on April 20.

The celebration will last the entire week of April 19-26. Beadles and Knudtson are outreach specialists for the Center for Civic Engagement, as well as committee members for the Beyond Earth Day celebration. The pair have been working together to make Beyond Earth Day possible.

“Beyond Earth Day has been here every year since at least 2000, and we decided to not make it a one day event, we wanted to make it a week long celebration,” Beadles said.

OSU has records of Beyond Earth Day on file since the year 2000, but there have been Earth Day celebrations going on since 1970.  

The Beyond Earth Day website has a calendar of events happening for the celebration, with a lineup of 18 events in total. These include the Community Fair on April 23 and the Hoo Haa on April 22.

The Community Fair is a tradition at OSU, but this year there will be over 40 booths set up, starting at the covering at the Student Experience Center. The Community Fair will include activities, information, and ways to get involved regarding our planet and economy.

The Hoo Haa takes place at the OSU Organic Student Grower’s Club Farm, with free food and activities. The Hoo Haa is a yearly activity that offers live music, poetry, and special guest performers. In the past, the special guest performances have been unique presentations such as bubble dancing. Guests are encouraged to bring their own bowl and silverware.

“There are free shuttle stops at the OSU Bookstore, Monroe Downward Dog, and the Hoo Haa itself,” Norris said. “They usually do hands-on farm work and anyone can jump in. I love this event because it attracts on- and off-campus community together.”  

“Programming is focused on earth ecosystems, health and wellness, viable economies, and social progress and draws attention to the interdependence of the health of humans, animals, environment, and economy,” Knudtson said, quoting the program’s mission statement. “This year, there is a lot more diversity with the events that we have with programming. Normally they’re all more environmental, but there is so much more happening this time.”

Andrea Norris is helping lead the Beyond Earth Day committee. She currently works for Campus Recycling, which most students recognize as the location of the OSUsed thrift shop.

“One thing I like to let people know is why it’s called Beyond Earth Day. We say “beyond” because we are reaching beyond traditional environmentalism and celebrating more than just one single earth day,” Norris said.  “We want our programming and the organizations to be highlighting healthy ecosystems, humans, and economy, as well as how those things are intertwined.”

Beadles, Norris, and Knudtson have worked hard on this celebration along with the rest of their team. The Beyond Earth Day website has more details as well as contact information of the organizations involved. For Norris, however, the work is still going on.

“If you look at our lineup, I think there are some good sources that represent our vision. I would also acknowledge that OSU still has a lot of work to do in terms of breaking that image about Earth Day being more about just the day.”