By Photo Editor
Sustainability, renewability and personal well-being: these were the themes of the Cal State Long Beach Eco-Fair held on Tuesday in celebration of Earth Week.
The Eco-Fair took place in front of the Speaker’s Platform and featured kiosks from a plethora of groups, including Cease Animal Torture, Student Health Services, Long Beach Water and students from the CSULB Environmental Science and Engineering programs.
Student groups and organizations from the city attended the event as well as artists. Narsiso Martinez, a second-year art major, visually presented sustainability in the form of his exhibit.
During the summer and winter vacations, Martinez works in the agriculture business harvesting crops for commercial food companies. His work serves as inspiration for many of his pieces, which he reuses recycled cardboard from grocery stores to create portraits and scenes of what it is like to work in the farming industry.
Martinez said that his art gives the farmworkers a chance to be noticed.
“Every time I have the opportunity to speak about the fields I go for it. My art creates a narrative, it puts the agriculture business and the people together,” Martinez said.
Student groups on campus provided awareness on personal health and proper diet.
Cease Animal Torture promoted healthier diet options and resources to eat better foods.
“A vegan diet is the most sustainable diet because it saves water and other resources. Three times a day we have the option to make a compassionate and sustainable choice to keep meat and dairy products off our plates,” said Katherine Reuter, a student and member of Cease Animal Torture.
Organizations from the city of Long Beach included the Long Beach Bike Share and Long Beach Water. Groups advocated using alternative transportation and water conservation.
The Long Beach Bike Share attended to promote bike use in the city of Long Beach by sharing information on future biking events and offering discounts to their service.
Long Beach Bike Share offers subscriptions to use their bicycles which are stationed at various points in the city. Their mission focused on reducing emissions from cars and encouraged more people to be active in riding bikes instead of driving.
Long Beach Water came to promote proper water conservation to students.
At the booth was “Conservin’ Mervin,” a video game console made to promote players about saving water for this drought season.
Despite a considerable rainfall this winter, Nick Salcedo, a CSULB alumni and participant at the Long Beach Water tent felt that people still need to be informed on proper water usage as to prevent restrictions in the future.
The goal for Long Beach Water was “To promote water conservation and make it apparent to students,” said Salcedo.
Events for Earth Week will continue until the end of the week. Create and Celebrate with Screen Printing will take place Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. as music, photo booths and eco-crafts will be available to students for entertainment and environmental education.
