Environmentalist Sandra Steingraber, right, and Tony Ingraffea, Cornell professor emeritus of engineering, participate on a panel on fracking, in the documentary film, "Unfractured," which will be shown April 15 at Cinemapolis.

Cornell touts Sustainability Month with over 80 events

Azi Akpan '16 unveils her self-designed dress made from Target plastic bags and Amazon Prime bubble wrap at the ECOuture fashion presentation in 2016. This year's ECOuture show will be April 14 at Duffield Hall.

Cornell goes green by celebrating the pale blue dot – Earth – with Sustainability Month during April. More than 80 events are scheduled, including lectures, films, fashion, art, social justice and climate change leadership training.

A comprehensive calendar of sustainability events can be found here.

Highlights include:

  • The Cornell Climate Change seminar series, Mondays at 2:55 p.m. in 125 Riley Robb or via ZOOM. Scheduled seminars include a talk by Sarah Zemanick, director of campus sustainability, on “Achieving a Carbon Neutral Campus by 2035” April 9, and a lecture by Natalie Mahowald, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and the Atkinson Center’s faculty director for the environment, on “How Low Can We Go: What Is Needed to Achieve Low Temperature Climate Targets?” April 16.
  • On April 14, the Cornell Environmental Collaborative (ECO) presents ECOuture, where the Duffield Hall audience will have the opportunity to examine social and environmental justice in the context of clothing from 8 p.m. to midnight.
  • Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future is sponsoring four films during the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, which will be shown at Cinemapolis. Three films will screen April 14: “The Shoreline” (2016) – Producer and director Liz Miller explains how half the world’s populations live on coasts, an increasingly perilous situation with global warming resulting in rising sea levels. Miller will answer questions following the film, 12:30 p.m.; “Cheshire, Ohio” (2017) – Filmed over a decade by Eve Morgenstern, the documentary follows a community devastated by coal. Morgenstern will answer questions following the film, 2:45 p.m.; and “Entre Los Hielos De Las Islas Orcadas” – A 1926 Argentinian documentary tracking an Antarctic expedition. The Cloud Chamber Orchestra will accompany the film with a live, original improvisational score, and film archivists who discovered this rare footage will participate in a panel discussion after the film, 8:30 p.m.; On April 15, the festival will show “Unfractured,” a 2017 film featuring local environmentalist Sandra Steingraber and her quest to defeat oil and gas fracking in New York state. Filmmaker Chanda Chavannes and Steingraber will answer questions following the film, 3:30 p.m.
  • Cornell staff can register for sustainability training on April 17 at the East Hill Office Building with Sustainability and Climate Change 101 (9 a.m. to noon) and Sustainability Business Integration and Climate Solutions 201 (1-4 p.m.)
  • Springfest 2018, April 20 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Ho Plaza, celebrates environmental clubs, programs and student collaborations with food, music and green merriment.
  • Cornell’s President’s Sustainable Campus Committee will host two information sessions – April 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in 106G Uris Library and April 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Mann Library – to collect feedback on updating the strategic campus sustainability plan. Students, faculty and staff are welcome.
  • Climate change and social justice intersect at a Climate Refugee Panel discussion April 25 in Kaufmann Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall, from 5-7 p.m. Speakers will include Karen Pinkus, professor of Italian and comparative literature, and students from the University of Puerto Rico.
  • Live better and help the Earth – all on a college budget – at the Sustainable Living Conference: Practical Ways to Reduce your Ecological Footprint, April 26, 700 Clark Hall, from 4:30-7 p.m., an interactive workshop for students.
  • The new Shifting Ground exhibit at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art will have an opening celebration April 27 from 8-11 p.m. This landscape-focused exhibition will mark nature’s role in art and sustainability and was curated by students in the History of Art Majors’ Society.

Media Contact

Jeff Tyson