Each April, Oxy’s campus comes to life with a celebration of our planet.
At Oxy, “Earth Day” just isn’t enough to capture our commitment to sustaining our planet! Students, staff, and faculty come together to plan a whole month’s worth of events, including local guest speakers, workshops, film screenings, an Earth Day Quad Fair, and so much more!
Our complete event lineup is here, with select highlights and events requiring an RSVP below.
Kick off Earth Month by learning about the history of sustainability at Oxy! A presentation and panel of alumni and current students, highlighting student-led initiatives to center sustainability and climate advocacy.
Join Perpetua Kirby from the University of Sussex as she discusses using hands-on food production to push students to explore and respond to issues surrounding food systems.
Opening event for the ASOC SusFund and Special Collections collaborative Earth Month exhibit! There will be a live reading of a poem from Oxy Alum and Los Angeles environmentalist Robinson Jeffers, as well as snacks and drinks.
Many associate palm weaving with a religious holiday such as Palm Sunday during the Easter season. This workshop, led by Diyan BukoBombo, will share the ways palm weaving was used in the so-called Philippines prior to Christian colonization. In ancient times and to this day, palm weaving is used to create sustainable items for special gatherings to daily living. Some weaving designs range from household goods, hats, mats, cooking ware, baskets, fiesta decor and more. This workshop will teach folks how to make their own palm weaving creations, and hopes to inspire a connection to their ancestors, ancestral art practices, and relationships with the earth.
Please RSVP.
Please join Prof. Bevin Ashenmiller (Economics), Prof. Gretchen North (Biology), student researchers and their community partners to discuss their research investigating the resilience of native plant communities near the Eaton Fire by assessing recovery in burned areas adjacent to both invasive-dominated and native-dominated sites.
Please RSVP.
Join Planet in Mind, the Office of Sustainability, the Department of Media Arts and Culture (MAC), for an LA Climate Week event dedicated to the intersection of cinematic storytelling and environmental action. Experience a special presentation of “Dance with Light”, a stunning example of how high level artistry and deep sustainability can coexist on screen, followed by a Green Production Panel. Hear from experts from the Mayor’s Office of Energy and Sustainability, the Green Film Schools Alliance, and the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance. Explore a Sustainable production showcase featuring exhibitors sharing the tools to make sustainable production a reality right now. Come meet and network with industry and sustainability experts!
Please RSVP.
This event exposes students to on-campus and local sustainability groups and their projects with tabling, free food and produce, lino-cut t-shirts, and fun! Come to the quad to celebrate Earth Month with us!
Polyester prayer flags have been enthusiastically embraced throughout the Himalayas, and throughout Buddhist communities around the world, in the last three decades. Originally, these prayer flags, known as lungta, were intended to carry prayers and blessings on the wind, and were printed as needed in villages and monasteries. Mass production using synthetic fabric and screen printing has made prayer flags more convenient to procure. However, with the discovery of microplastics in the high mountains and concern about rubbish in the glaciers and streams, recently there has been more critical discussion around these convenient prayer flags, and projects that are concerned with returning to traditional knowledge ways that promote sustainability.
This workshop will guide participants in creating prayer flags as a way for them to think about the connected issues of Indigenous knowledge, sustainability, and waste in global ecosystems and as part of material religion.
Please RSVP.
Join FEAST and UEP 240 (Raising Animals as a Part of Regenerative Agriculture) as we host Party Goats LA in the garden. Learn about the role of Goats and Sheep in Regenerative Agriculture in real time!
The Office of the President and the Office of Sustainability will be hosting an all campus forum on the development of the Oxy Climate Action and Sustainability Plan (CASP). We will share updates and want to hear your thoughts! Development of the plan was catalyzed by the Second Nature Climate Commitment signed by President Elam in January 2024, with a target of having a plan approved in Spring 2027. Please attend this forum to share your thoughts about priorities and actions to support carbon neutrality and sustainability on campus.
Please RSVP.
Celebrate Earth Month with the Moore Lab of Zoology by joining us for a morning migrant bird watch at Occidental College's student-run urban garden, FEAST. We'll be on the lookout for seasonal visitors and, as always, our resident native birds.
Please RSVP.
Your favorite FEAST event is back! We welcome you to enjoy community, music, and hand-made food from local ingredients sourced from FEAST's edible gardens and other local growers.
Please RSVP.
Click here for a view of all events on the calendar!
The student-led thrift shop, Touchdown, hosted a series of eco-workshops at their new location in the Concession Stand. Events included a clothing mending workshop, a wild ink-making workshop, and a recycled glass trinket dish workshop.
The Office of Sustainability hosted Dr. Amanda Baugh, a professor and Director of the MA Sustainability program at CSUN, for the annual Earth Month Book Talk in partnership with the Religious Studies and Latino/Latina American Studies Department.
The Emmons Wellness Center Peer Power Program collaborated with the Sustainable Oxy Citizens Club for an eco-wellness walk at nearby Ernest E. Debs park!
In preparation for drafting the campus-wide Climate Action and Sustainability Plan (CASP), set to be published by Spring 2027, the Office of the President and the Office of Sustainability hosted a community forum to gather input from students, staff, and faculty.
In celebration of International Bat Appreciation day, the Urban and Environmental Policy department hosted local artist Jess Grudiel for a zine-making workshop all about bats, our most misunderstood pollinators!
The Media, Arts, and Culture Department, Obama Scholars Program, and Office of Sustainability collaborated to bring alumna Angelina Lee '22 to campus for the first LA screening of "Making a Mini-Forest," which documents a network of microforests using the Miyawaki Method in Western Europe. Students from the Womxn in Television and Cinema Club, the Food, Energy, and Sustainability Team (FEAST), and the Sustainable Oxy Citizens Club facilitated a Q&A with Lee, prompting questions about environmental storytelling and nature-based solutions.
The Excess Food Recovery Team (EFRT) and the Food, Energy, and Sustainability Team (FEAST) teamed up to bring the Altadena Seed Library to campus to give a workshop about native ecology and food systems.
The ASOC Sustainability Fund and the Office of Sustainability bround Jason Wise, AKA @JasonJourneyman to campus for two "Queer Ecology Walks" on Oxy's campus. Intended to view nature through a new, "queer" lense, the event brought students, staff, and faculty together to build community around our campus landscapes.
View a calendar of all events from Earth Month 2024!
Held annually on the last Thursday of April, the ASOC Sustainability Fund hosts a pop-up fair on the main campus Quad with temporary tattoos, sustainability tabling, and free local and vegetarian foods. In 2024, highlights included free Beewali's Vegan AF wraps, a native plant sale, Oxy olive oil tasting, paracord bracelet making, and a thrift store fundraiser for a local environmental organization.
The first Earth Month Film Fest featured three documentaries with environmental themes, including "Roots so Deep," "HANDS-ON: Women: Climate: Change," and a finale debut of Oxy alum Angelina Lee '22's "The Big Raise," a 40-minute documentary about permaculture in France.
Each year, the UEP 247: Urban Ag and Native Landscaping Practicum welcomes a series of local guest speakers to campus and opens the class to the community. In 2024, they welcomed Jose Gamma, an urban forestry expert; Maggie Smart-McCabe '20 and Lynn Fang from LA Compost; Aaron Tupoc of "Exploring the Mycoverse;" and Bruce Steele '71, Oxy's retired Environmental Health and Safety Manager and honeybee expert.
The Moore Lab of Zoology hosted a series of events including a natural history collection open house, a native bird walk, and a migration bird count with the FEAST Garden.
The Marketplace, Oxy's largest dining hall, hosted a series of vegetarian lunches each Friday in April. Menus included enchiladas, mac and cheese, empanadas, and falafel.
In an effort to teach Oxy students how to use public transit, and take advantage of their free U-Pass TAP cards, the Sustainable Oxy Citizens Club took students to LA State Historic Park for a picnic and the Hollywood Farmers Market on Metro buses. Student participants were given $15 vouchers to spend at the farmers market, courtesy of the ASOC Sustainability Fund.
This annual event features a home-cooked brunch with produce from the FEAST Bruce Steele Garden and local farmers markets and live music by student performers!
On April 22nd, 2024, Project SAFE hosted the first-ever annual 5k to honor and bring awareness to Earth Day and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and 2Spirit People! The event featured a teach-in by the So'oh-Shinálí Sister Project to share the historical context of the ongoing trend of sexual violence against indigenous peoples and how it relates to restoring land to the original Earth stewards, and a land blessing by Tongva community leader, Tina Calderon.
Each year, the ASOC Sustainability Fund hosts a pop-up fair on the main campus Quad with temporary tattoos, sustainability tabling, and free local and vegetarian foods.
The ASOC Sustainability Fund hosted an Upcycled Fashion Show in the Tiger Cooler with student-designed upcycled clothing!
The Sustainable Oxy Citizens Club (SOCC) and Sunrise Oxy hosted the first annual Earth Month Trivia in 2023 at Cannon Plaza with a themed meal from Campus Dining. The trivia event was completed by student jazz performers and a $100 gift card prize to the winning team of 4!
Each year, the UEP 247 class hosts a series of guest lectures in class that are open to the entire community. In 2023, the class welcomed Urban Homestead to chat about chickens and holistic animal care, LA Compost to speak about urban composting, and Bruce Steele (Chaparral Mountain Honey Co) to talk about pollinators!
The Sustainable Oxy Citizens Club (SOCC) brought a group of student volunteers to Descanso Gardens to remove invasive ivy!
1600 Campus Road M-6
Los Angeles, CA 90041