UA Eco-Reps cleaned up a park for 10/10/10, the “”Global Work Party,”” for the environment.
There were 7,347 events in 188 countries organized by 350.org on Sunday.
The Eco-Reps, a part of the Residence Life Sustainability Program, cleaned up Himmel Park and ate vegetarian for a day in honor of the event.
Julia Kard, Eco-Rep president and pre-veterinary science sophomore, chose Himmel Park because she enjoyed a Recyclemania event held there last year.
“”It was just kind of a nice way to get out and enjoy the environment and help clean it up a little bit because that is what 10/10/10 is hoping to do is show legislators that we need to clean up the environment,”” Kard said.
The Eco-Reps chose to eat vegetarian for a day because it significantly reduces the amount of carbon that is released into the environment, Kard said.
The diet shift was a challenging experience for some of the Eco-Reps.
“”My family was in town and everybody in my family is huge meat eaters,”” said Constance McNamara, Eco-Reps marketing manager and nutritional sciences freshman. “”We had lunch at Highland Market and it was kind of hard to find something to stay vegetarian.””
Erik Delich, Eco-Rep and psychology freshman, attempted being vegan in the past but still found being vegetarian for a day challenging.
“”It becomes like a natural impulse where it’s like, ‘I’m going to get a burger, oh wait, I can’t,'”” Delich said.
The group also went out to dinner after cleaning up the park. Kard said they wanted to experience how sometimes it is difficult to be vegetarian at a restaurant but there is always an option and it can be easy.
On Monday the Eco-Reps plan to write letters to legislators to let them know about the event.
“”(We want) to kind of hopefully push them in the direction of being eco-friendly and actually being proactive about it instead of just saying eventually it will happen,”” McNamara said, “”because stuff like global warming, like the oil spill and our effect on the ecosystem is happening now. It’s not something that is going to happen, it is something that we need to take care of now before it gets too out of hand.””
