{"id":228532,"date":"2025-04-17T07:35:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=228532"},"modified":"2025-04-16T17:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T21:22:14","slug":"uconn-amplifies-sustainability-message-with-spring-fling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/04\/uconn-amplifies-sustainability-message-with-spring-fling\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Amplifies Sustainability Message with Spring Fling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earth Day and sustainability initiatives at UConn Storrs were celebrated by students during the Earth Day Spring Fling and Zero Waste Barbecue on Wednesday, April 16.<\/p>\n

Vendors and clubs set up shop along Fairfield Way to sell sustainable goods and involve members of the UConn community with green initiatives around campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good way of getting people excited about sustainability,\u201d said Ross Elliott \u201926 (CLAS). \u201cPeople are naturally drawn to free food and music and fun stuff, but at the same time, it actually gets them thinking about what this is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
UConn students participate in goat yoga on the Founders Green during Earth Day Spring Fling on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the featured events was a Party Peddler Bike Tour, where an Office of Sustainability intern shared facts about buildings around campus and how the architecture at UConn incorporates sustainability to help UConn in its strategic plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHerbst Hall, for example, is a LEED-certified building. Every single new UConn building is LEED-certified,\u201d said Amogh Chaubey \u201925 (ENG), an intern at the Office of Sustainability. \u201cThat means leadership and environmental design.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a bioretention basin beneath the building that helps with stormwater management, Chaubey told passengers. \u201cA lot of the things you don\u2019t really think about, like how come Fairfield Way doesn\u2019t get flooded when it rains, are built into the architecture of our buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bike ride was my favorite part of today,\u201d says Elliott. \u201cIt was a great way to learn more about how UConn has committed to sustainability. Everyone was talking, laughing, pedaling and pushing as hard as they can; it was silly, but it was really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UConn
UConn students ride on a party bike on Mansfield Way during Earth Day Spring Fling on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elsewhere, the Spring Valley Student Farm gave out free marigolds in recycled newspaper pots; UConn Horticulture Club sold plants; the library had a display of sustainability books; and local vendors sold soaps, dog treats, pins, and more.<\/p>\n

The annual class tree-planting ceremony took place as well. Members of the first-year student community planted a tree for the class of 2028. This year’s tree was planted near the Hawley Armory, facing Fairfield Way.<\/p>\n

Another event that students participated in was goat yoga on Founders Lawn. \u201cThe goats are so friendly, they\u2019ll jump on your back,\u201d said Chaubey. \u201cIt gets filled up right away. Getting a seat for that is like getting a Taylor Swift concert ticket, it\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal of the event is to provoke more conversations about sustainability at a high level, said Chaubey. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re working with Dining to bring the zero-waste barbecue and cupcakes to the celebration. Building that partnership could, down the road, help us work with them to bring zero-waste to our dining halls,\u201d Chaubey says. \u201cOur big goal here is to make sustainability centralized.\u201d<\/p>\n

The zero-waste barbecue was the main attraction of the celebrations. Students had a chance to enjoy locally sourced foods, many of which were vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free. The food waste is run through food cyclers that the Office of Sustainability runs.<\/p>\n

\"Passengers
The view from the party pedal bike during the Spring Fling (George Velky \/ UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a dishwasher,\u201d said Chaubey. \u201cIt cycles overnight and gives you this composable dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students can purchase these composters personally or for their residence halls, Chaubey added. \u201cOur pilot program put them in a bunch of off-campus apartments, and the idea is that students can deal with waste super easily wherever you want.”<\/p>\n

\"A
And stretch: goat yoga on the Founders Green during Earth Day Spring Fling on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One way Chaubey encourages students to get involved is by filling out a sustainability literacy survey.<\/a> This gives the Office of Sustainability a gauge of how students are contributing to sustainability in Storrs and what it can do to improve environmental literacy and green programs around campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned about zero-waste vegan food and how that can lead to a more sustainable society,\u201d said Elliott. \u201cI\u2019m not a vegetarian, but I\u2019ve always been interested in how we could shift towards a vegetarian society. It was cool to see how many people were enjoying the vegetarian and vegan barbecue. It surprised me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The student response to the festivities was overwhelmingly positive. \u201cIt\u2019s windy, it\u2019s cold, but look around, it\u2019s packed,\u201d said Chaubey. \u201cStudent engagement is a huge part of our mission, and sustainability can be a ton of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From goat yoga to zero-waste barbecue, spreading the message that sustainability is creative and rewarding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":228535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387,2235,2225,2227,2458,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-228532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-undergraduates","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 23:47:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228540,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228532\/revisions\/228540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/228535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228532"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=228532"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=228532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}