Green Coast Day 2023: Science, sustainability, style

Coast Report Staff
Apr 20, 2023
Apr 20, 2023
0

Orange Coast College celebrated Green Coast Day Wednesday with an array of events focused on preserving Earth’s resources and innovations of sustainability.

The OCC Planetarium was host to an Environmental Poster Showcase featuring green-focused topics and discussions from the OCC community as well as showings of the documentaries "Dynamic Earth" and "Habitat Earth."

The day's keynote speaker was Brian Alters, Chapman University professor and OCC alum who honored his late mentor Tom Garrison. Alters returned to the same place where he first had Garrison as an instruction in 1975. Alters also spoke on the growing concerns of the Earth's man-made effect on global warming and its effect on evolution. His speech was followed by the presentation of the annual Garrison Fellows Awards.

In the lawn in front of the library, a sustainable fashion show featured environmentally friendly looks and styles created by OCC Fashion students. The runway looks were thrifted styles and sold in a pop-up market before the show.

“The goal is to promote awareness and recognize outstanding student academic achievements,” OCC Business Instructor and Academic Senate President Lee Gordon said. “It is about student engagement, getting students involved and bringing the campus together. The environment is important and this is how we bring awareness.”

Green Coast Day has been an annual event since 2009 with a brief switch to online the last two years due to COVID-19 precautions. The Garrison Honors Center, Coast Report, OCC Fashion, Sustainability Committee and the Planetarium were sponsoring organizations of the event.

“It is an opportunity for students to become a little more aware and to take action,” Green Coast Day Coordinator and MBCC Instructional Computer Lab Coordinator John Fawcett said. “We need to take action or our planet is going to be confined in a layer of plastic.”

Managing Editor Stephanie Morales, Editor in Chief Kate Bent, Multimedia Editor Colin Sweeney and Contributor Carlos Martinez collaborated in reporting this story.