30 Days to Earth Day Challenge

The Providence College Environmental, Health and Safety Department, in partnership with The Environmental Club at PC and the Department of Human Resources, invites all faculty, staff, and students to participate in a challenge to celebrate Earth Day 2021.  For the 30 days leading up to Earth Day (from March 24 through April 22), we have suggested an action to reduce your footprint and to participate in restoring our planet.  Small actions add up to real impact!  Between March 3 and March 23, check out our calendar for ideas and complete the form, pledging to adopt daily sustainable habits for a chance to win Earth-friendly prizes to support your efforts!

Follow @pcgogreen on Instagram to follow along with the challenge – and more chances to win prizes by sharing your efforts on social media (Instagram and Twitter) by using #pcgoesgreen!

For over 50 years, Earth Day has provided an opportunity for all of us to reflect on our effects, positive and negative, on our planet.  The first Earth Day in 1970 planned a day of teach-ins on environmental protection at college campuses across the country.  The impacts reached beyond colleges, however, and 20 million Americans participated in teach-ins, protests, and demonstrations against industrial deterioration of the environment.  By the end of that year, the Environmental Protection Agency was created to establish regulations to officially protect air, water, land, and wildlife.  Earth Day has always had, and continues to have, an influence on both the government and industry, as well as on every person who participates.

For Earth Day 2021, the Catholic Church has chosen a theme of “Restore Our Common Home,” drawing on the inspiration and influence of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter On Care for Our Common Home. The pandemic has reduced the strain on the environment in many ways and has emphasized how the human activities shape our planet.  We have seen how nature can recover if given the chance.  We have also seen the importance of clean, safe, accessible outdoor spaces for all to enjoy and the benefits of outdoor recreation on our physical and mental health. Therefore, it is our duty as stewards to not only protect the environment, but to work to “restore God’s beautiful gift of creation.”