1. Sustainability Office
  2. Events

Events

 

Events with a sustainability focus occur year-round.  For Spring 2020, in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, UNC Charlotte events will constitute an "Earth Semester".  For more information and a calendar view of Earth Semester events, go to earthsemester.uncc.edu.  Contact Tyler Sytsma for ways you can participate, or add your event to this page.

Upcoming Events:

Note: As events have been affected by COVID-19 precautions, we have updated the listings below.  By maintaining this record, we hope to maintain the spirit of our intentions to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. Thank you to all the event organizers -- know that you have helped UNC Charlotte become a more engaged campus now and in the future.

MARCH 2020

E-SCOOTER LAUNCH

Mon. March 9.  Time: 10:00am-2:00pm
Near Student Union, at the Bus Stop and Charlotte Wheels station

Join Parking and Transportation Services and Gotcha for the launch of electric scooter service at UNC Charlotte.  For a teaser and scooter fashion tips, see the "Scoot" webpage. 

PARTICLE FALLS + PANEL ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Fri. March 13

Live art performance meets environmental science.  Along with our partners, Clean Air Carolina, Andrea Polli's installation "Particle Falls: Air Made Visible" returns to Charlotte.  Panel on sustainable development featuring Peter Plastrik, co-author of Life After Carbon: The Next Global Transformation of Cities, chief planner and deputy Charlotte city manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba, and others.

STUDY ABROAD WEEK -- CANCELLED

March 16-20 
In light of the directive from UNC Charlotte to limit social distancing as much as possible due to the global health crisis, we regrettably will be canceling Study Abroad Week (March 16-20). We will be brainstorming ways on how we can continue to support our students, both those currently abroad and those who have hopes of being abroad soon. This is certainly a challenging time for UNC Charlotte, the community and across the globe. We truly appreciate your patience and understanding..
 

CHANGEMAKER KICKOFF: MAKING AN IMPACT

Tue., March 17. Time: 4:00pm-9:00pm
PORTAL Building, Room 252
During this workshop, students will be given a challenge in which teams work together and think innovatively of ways to solve a problem.  The workshop is the first step to compete for up to $2000 in prizes. Problem challenge areas include Improving the Quality of Life, Inequality and Discrimination,  and Environment. Register online for the workshop by March 13!    
 

TREE CAMPUS USA DAY -- CANCELLED PUBLIC EVENT, BUT THE  UNIVERSITY WILL MAKE SURE THE TREES ARE PLANTED!

Thu., March 19
Thanks to a generous donation of trees from Trees Charlotte, areas near Martin Hall and South Village Crossing will get beautified with about 100 trees.  
 

WEATHERFEST -- CANCELLED

Fri. March 20, Time: 9:00am to 3:00pm
Cone University Center

Please join STORM (Student Organization of Meteorology), as they host the 6th annual WeatherFest for students of all ages and the public.  Learn about the weather and natural processes of Earth.

PARTICLE FALLS + PANEL ON ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Fri. March 20

Live art performance meets environmental science.  Along with our partners, Clean Air Carolina, Andrea Polli's installation "Particle Falls: Air Made Visible" returns to Charlotte.  Panel on active transportation featuring Shannon Binns, Executive Director of Sustain Charlotte, Terry Lansdell, Executive Director of BikeWalk NC and others.

CAPITALISM STUDIES SPEAKER: THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON AND GLOBAL WARMING

Mon. March 23.  Time: 4:00pm-5:15pm
Rowe Room 130

Join Capitalism Studies visiting speaker Seth Garfield for a talk entitled "The Brazilian Amazon and Global Warming:  The Forgotten Story of the World War II Rubber Campaign", Seth Garfield is a professor of Latin American history and director of the Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.  His primary specialization is Brazilian history and environmental history, but he is also interested in broader questions of race and ethnicity in Latin America, indigenous policy, and comparative frontiers. 

PARTICLE FALLS + PANEL ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Fri. March 27

Live art performance meets environmental science.  Along with our partners, Clean Air Carolina, Andrea Polli's installation "Particle Falls: Air Made Visible" returns to Charlotte.  Panel on environmental justice featuring professor Deb Thomas of the UNC Charlotte Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, along with the UNC Charlotte Department of Public Health Sciences, and the Urban Institute with support from the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund.

 

APRIL 2020

EARTH DAY FESTIVAL -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Wed., April 1
Thank you to the 50+ community, state, and campus organizations working for a sustainable world.  We are truly sorry to cancel this opportunity for our students, staff and faculty to learn more with the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2020. 
 

TIAA LECTURE: ELIZABETH KOLBERT -- POSTPONED

Wed., April 1

Please join Chancellor Philip L. Dubois for the TIAA Lecture featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer and journalist Elizabeth Kolbert.  Kolbert’s New Yorker pieces have included political profiles, book reviews, comment essays and extensive writing on climate change. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History". She is the author of "The Prophet of Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit" and "Field Notes from a Catastrophe". 

I AM INUIT, PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN ADAMS -- POSTPONED TO 2020-2021 ACADEMIC YEAR

Fri. April 3
This exhibition has been postponed until 2020-2021.  This exhibition features the work of Anchorage-based Iñupiaq editorial and commercial photographer Brian Adams, who specializes in environmental portraiture and medium-format photography. Adams travels to Inuit communities throughout the Alaska Arctic to capture Inuit (Iñupiat, Yup’ik, Cup’ik and St. Lawrence Island Yupik) life, culture, and society through photographs and short stories.  A reception will be held on Friday April 3, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
 

CAMPUS CLEANUP -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Thu.,  April 9

Organized by the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling.  Thank you to everyone who has kept this event popular every semester for over a decade. 

NC BREATHE CONFERENCE -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Thu.,  April 9
(Registration Fees to be refunded) UNC Charlotte is hosting Clean Air Carolinas' 2020 NC Breathe Conference.  As part of National Public Health Week, the theme is "Health, Equity, and the Climate Crisis in North Carolina". Keynote speakers include William Barber III from The Climate Reality Project, Gregory Kearney from East Carolina University, and Mona Sarfaty from the George Mason Center for Climate Communication. 
 

PLANT SALE -- CANCELLED

Fri., April 10 to Sat. Apr. 11,  Time: 9:00am-3:00pm
(Member pre-sale on Thu. April 9, noon-3:00pm)

Shop from an exceptional array of plants at our largest sale of the year! This is a great opportunity to ask our knowledgeable staff lots of questions! All proceeds support the operations of the gardens and greenhouse, where admission is always free.

AUDUBON NORTH CAROLINA SUMMIT  -- POSTPONED TO FALL 2020

Hosted by Mecklenburg Audubon Society. Join the flock at the 2020 Audubon North Carolina Summit for workshops, field trips, and social events.  Paid registration is required; scholarships are available for college students in North Carolina. 
 

EARTH OPTIMISM 2020 CLT -- CANCELLED WITH HOPES TO CONTINUE IN FUTURE YEARS (AND AN ONLINE REPLACEMENT THIS SPRING)

Wed.,  April 22,  
Kick off Earth Day with a healthy serving of hope and optimism. UNC Charlotte is co-hosting with the Carolina Raptor Center our first Charlotte offering of The Smithsonian Institution's Earth Optimism series: "Earth Optimism celebrates a change in focus from problem to solution, from a sense of loss to one of hope, in the dialogue about conservation and sustainability".  This event will showcase Charlotte-area organizations to celebrate local, replicable success stories for saving the planet.
 
GARDENS AND VERSES -- CANCELLED WITH HOPES TO CONTINUE IN FUTURE YEARS
 
Thu., April 23
For the third year, the UNC Charlotte English Department is co-sponsoring with the Botanical Gardens the popular “Gardens and Verses”, performances that focus on the relationship between humans and the nonhuman world. And Shakespeare's birthday!
 

PARTY FOR THE PLANET -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Thu., April 23
Student Gathering sponsored by the Earth Club. Capping off Earth Semester and our celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day!
 

NORTH CAROLINA SCIENCE FESTIVAL -- CANCELLED WITH POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE RE-SCHEDULING

Sun., April 26,  Time: Noon-4:00pm
Student Union

UNC Charlotte celebrates the North Carolina Science Festival with its Science and Technology Expo free public science extravaganza! The 2020 Expo theme is Future Earth and will feature over 100 activities for the science-curious of all ages, including hands-on educational presentations and fascinating displays -- engineering demonstrations, computer and software explorations, all kinds of cool robots in action, lab tours in the life sciences, STEM education activities, environmental science, rockets, drones, scavenger hunt prizes, the nearby UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens in full bloom... and much, much more.