Val Quad and Webster Circle
Occurring in early spring each year on campus, the City Streets Festival features international foods, live music, outdoor games, and more. Flags of the home countries of our students are displayed, and campus pathways are given international street signs. Students are invited to take a break and enjoy food, fun, and social activities!
Keefe Campus Center
Prizes will be awarded! Come by the Office of Sustainability table outside of Keefe to participate in the Scavenger Hunt. While there you can also ask questions and learn about the Climate Action Plan and the decarbonization of the campus energy system that is underway.
Cooper Garage
Come to the Tread Shed for a launch party! The Tread Shed is Amherst’s new bike co-op which aims to make biking more accessible and equip people with the tools and skills they need to do bike maintenance.
Stop by and/or bring your bike by to see the shop / do a free tune up!
The new shop is located in the Cooper garage, between Cooper and Clark Houses, across rt. 9 from Valentine. Local bike shops will be tabling and you can come get some swag, free gear, and meet others in the biking community. If you have any questions email treadshed@amherst.edu
Valentine Patio
Curious what portions of our waste stream are actually recyclable or compostable? We will be conducting a residential waste audit on the patio in front of Val. Feel free to drop in to see the audit in action, watch us sort trash, and learn more about what can and cannot be recycled on campus.
Also on the Val Patio from 12 - 2 PM, Book and Plow will be hosting a display and exploration of organic materials used on the farm! So stop in to learn more and get your hands dirty if you wish!
Book & Plow Farm
Join food activist Neftalí Durán for an evening of cooking and eating pozole and more. As part of the shared meal, you will explore topics of food insecurity, culturally-relevant and “ethnic foods,” as well as nutrition and diet cultures as they relate to who we are and the work we do in building and supporting more just food systems.
Sign up to be a part of a small group who will join Chef Neftalí in preparing pozole, a traditional Mexican soup made with hominy (made from dried maize/corn kernels), a meat (we will do one pot with meat and one without), and seasoned/garnished with ingredients such as shredded lettuce or cabbage, diced onion, cotija cheese, avocado, tostadas, salsa, and/or limes. The farm has also grown red radishes and cilantro to feature in this meal! Use this link to sign up + register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-sumiPFw6HXg8K86Y6TYmiVyNQoBJ2ozTiB3R04s2Dl1zKQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Today is National Arbor Day—a chance to celebrate trees!
From 12 - 1 PM in the Red Room in Converse
Join Arborist Dr. Kevin James from the US Forestry Service for a lunch time talk in Converse in the Red Room from 12 - 1 PM on “Charismatic Mega Flora” - aka Really Big Trees! The talk will look at how the biology of trees change as they age and why big trees are so unique. Learn the story behind the historic sycamore at The Amherst History Museum. After the event there will be a guided tree walk of Amherst College Big Trees.
From 3 - 4 PM at the Tent on the Val/Frost side of Chapin Hal
Join us for a celebration of our recent Tree Campus USA designation and participate in a campus tree planting.
There will be several events happening on Saturday, April 29th to celebrate land, food, nature, and community justice.
12-2 PM, Tennis Courts down below King and Wieland
The first event, beginning at noon, is a nature walk called Reclaiming Nature. This Reclaiming Nature walk will center people of color who are disproportionately affected by environmental issues and systematically excluded from certain forms of knowledge. This event will be led by Elizabeth James-Perry, an Indigenous artist of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head/Aquinnah, who has extensive experience navigating natural spaces and their cultural contexts.
2-5 PM, Book & Plow Farm (Rain location: The Powerhouse)
The second event, beginning at 2:00, will be the annual Share-the-Share event put on by the Food Justice Alliance and Book & Plow happening and Book & Plow farm. This is a fundraising event for local food and agriculture justice organization Nuestras Raíces. There will be food trucks and ice cream from Maple Valley Creamery. There will be live music, games, giveaways, screen printing, AND baby animals!