It’s time to dig out your boots and gardening gloves and think green.
Arbour Day will be celebrated at York on Thursday, April 3, as part of the first, worldwide Olympian Earth Week, launched by the Athens Environmental Foundation in recognition of International Earth Day and Week.
The University community is invited to join members of the York is U Green Team beginning at 1pm in the Master’s Dining Room, Stong College, to hear speakers such as Tony Fleischmann of the International Society of Arboriculture.
Be prepared to get dirty after the formalities! There will be a ceremonial tree planting of a single 
10-foot specimen in the Arboretum by Stong Pond, followed by the planting of 200 spruce seedlings near the Hoover Homestead, downstream of the pond.
Participants are invited back to Stong College for refreshments after the outdoor activity.
This event is being supported by the Green Team, the environmental branch of the York is U student spirit campaign, as well as the Greens @ York, another environmental student organization composed mainly of MES students. In addition, various departments at York, such as the Grounds & Vehicles section and Postal Services Unit of Facilities, Planning & Construction, are also contributing to the success of this event.
The Green Team’s objectives are as follows.
- to increase sustainable development policy awareness throughout the entire campus through information gathering, sharing and educating. The team hopes that all members of the York community will lead by example and initiate within themselves a respect for the environment and the community as a whole;
- to improve the implementation, access, awareness and education of York’s recycling program;
- to bring environmental issues to the forefront of York’s planning and decision-making process;
- to create initiatives that promote sustainability and student/campus involvement, such as Arbour Day, campus clean-up events and waste-food reduction.
