USC’s Earth Jam returned to Greene Street Tuesday and was more down-to-earth than ever. The street festival, sponsored by Sustainable Carolina, Healthy Carolina and Residence Hall Association, had activities for everyone including live student performers, food vendors and even a free yoga class. There were also opportunities for students to make something crafty and win prizes.
Because Wednesday is Earth Day, Sustainable Carolina wanted to raise awareness about the organization and show students how they can implement sustainability right here on campus.
“We are giving out water bottles and doing homemade crafts so people can see that you can be sustainable by doing more basic things,” first-year member of Sustainable Carolina Erin Ryansaid.
Student members of Sustainable Carolina handled the entire setup of Earth Jam including coordinating with all of the vendors.
“We work with the farmers market and we work with Gamecock Bio Soap,” Ryan said. “They make soap out of the Russell House oils and they convert it into glycerin to make soap.”
Other than the ripe fruits and vegetables and Gamecock Bio Soap sold at the farmer’s market, there were vendors selling popcorn, cotton candy and homemade products.
Members also worked to arrange interactive opportunities for students to participate in health and wellness activities such as Grassroots Yoga on Davis Field.
First-year student Courtney Cooper, who organized the free yoga class, said about 16 people came out to do the class, and throughout the event people were stopping to watch, taking pictures and even joining the class.
"We wanted to make this event accessible to everyone,” Cooper said. “No matter what level of yoga experience you have, you could participate in this."
One of the Grassroots Yoga participants, Olivia Sullivan, said she doesn’t have a lot of yoga experience, but says the class is at a workable level.
“It is an easy pace,” Sullivan said. “If you’re skilled in it, you still get the same effect as if it were your first day.”
Sullivan began taking classes with Cooper at Sustainable Carolina at Green Quad during the week.
“[Sustainable Carolina] offers free yoga classes almost every single day of the week," Cooper said. “I coordinate a lot of the yoga stuff for Sustainable Carolina. When the weather is really nice, we will take the classes outside.”
Earth Jam also hosted live musical performances throughout the entire festival. First-year Annie Prentice performed acoustic versions of "Pumped Up Kicks," "Electric Feel" and "Locked Out of Heaven."
Ryan says they wanted Earth Jam to be as bohemian as possible.
“We were throwing ideas off of each other at our first meeting,” Ryan said. “We wanted to make it like Coachella ... so we were thinking flower crowns and all that stuff. But then after we talked through it we thought we should just do the music and tie-dye.”
As an umbrella organization for everything sustainable on campus, Ryan said Sustainable Carolina hopes to unify all organizations on campus and have them participate in ecological activities. They even had Carolina Productions come out to host an event.
“We focus on wellness and eco-friendly practices. Throughout the year, we have gardening at Green Quad and also offer an internship program and a chance to earn volunteer hours,” Ryan said. “In the fall, we host Reclaimed Runway, where all of the outfits are made out of recycled materials.”
Ryan thinks participating in events through Sustainable Carolina like Earth Jam is a great opportunity for people to get involved and make a real difference. She thanks everyone at Sustainable Carolina for putting on the event and teaching her about sustainability.
“I didn’t really know anything about it when I came here,” Ryan said. “But I have learned so much, and I have made great friends and I am really thankful for all of them.”
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