In celebration of Earth Day, ISU student organization The Green Umbrella has organized events pertaining to sustainability and protecting the environment for this entire week.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 22 in front of Parks Library, Ames businesses and ISU student organizations will present information about how they practice sustainability and will have interactive activities in honor of Earth Day.

The Green Umbrella has organized events on Earth Day for the past four years but decided to hold events on the days before and after Earth Day beginning this year.

“It’s important that we really celebrate Earth Day and Earth Week in its entirety,” said Alex Gustafson, senior in environmental science and political science and a coordinator of the Earth Week activities.

Members of The Green Umbrella helped pick up trash around the Memorial Union, Lake LaVerne and Campustown on April 21 to kick off the week.

“We’re cleaning up around Campustown as a way to reach out to that area after what happened there during Veishea,” said Megan Koppenhafer, freshman in environmental science and community and regional planning and member of The Green Umbrella.

At the Earth Day event in front of Parks Library today, students from various ISU sustainability clubs will be available to talk and interact with students.

Iowa State’s Outdoor Recreation Program will offer free bike tune-ups, Team PrISUm and their solar car will be present at the event and The Green Umbrella will be giving out sustainable products to encourage students to come to the event.

“People can earn free prizes including buttons, keychains, a coffee mug and a reusable water bottle,” said Merry Rankin, Iowa State’s director of sustainability and faculty adviser for The Green Umbrella.

Gustafson said that the Earth Day celebration will be a great experience for students to learn more about sustainability-focused businesses in Ames and ISU student organizations.

At 7:00 p.m. Wednesday in Carver 101, The Green Umbrella will host a showing of the documentary Climate Refugees, a film about the displacement of animals and people because of environmental disasters. Following the film screening, there will be a discussion about the issues presented in the documentary.

Rankin said that the film is really interesting because it has been known for a while that climate and weather change have caused animals to unexpectedly relocate and now humans are being forced to move because of the intensity of these issues.

Gustafson said that The Green Umbrella hopes to raise awareness about present environmental issues through this film screening.

The Green Umbrella has put in many hours of work since the beginning of the semester to organize this week’s events and they are excited to help Iowa State students and the Ames community celebrate this special week.

“The Green Umbrella has been very hard at work in looking at opportunities [to promote sustainability on campus],” Rankin said. “They’re very excited to make [Earth Week] an annual thing.”