Earth Month is a time for everyone to come together for a common cause — a sustainable planet.

April 22 marks the 55th anniversary of Earth Day. At App State, Mountaineers celebrate Earth Day every day through the university’s ongoing commitment to sustainability. The Sustainability and Energy Management team, along with many other campus community members, has planned several events throughout the month of April for Mountaineers to get involved in campus and community sustainability efforts. Mark your calendar, bring a friend and help make our world a greener, cleaner place for all.

2025 Events

• Tuesday, April 1

  Spring Closet Clean-Outs
  10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
  East Campus (Sanford Mall) & West Campus (Thunder Hill, Raven Rocks, and Laurel Creek Quad)

  Event Link →

  Kick off Earth Month with a Spring Closet Cleanout. Bring an item to swap and trade, and view an assortment of clothing items from the Mountaineer Free Store. This is an opportunity for students to update their wardrobes, keep items out of the landfill, and learn about resources available to them through Sustainability and Energy Management. Sponsored by f Sustainability and Energy Management, Wellness and Prevention Services, and University Housing.

• Wednesday, April 2

  Sustainability Film Series - Audio Under the Stars
  7 p.m.
  Fire Pit - Sanford Mall

  Event Link →

  Come join Sustainability and App Docs - Documentary Film Services for a night under the stars and by the fire! Connect with your fellow Mountaineers and celebrate Earth Month while we stream environmentally themed audio docs and share smores!

• Thursday, April 3

  Boone Creek Clean Up
  1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
  AMB

  Event Link →

  Volunteers are needed to clean Boone Creek behind Appalachian Mountain Brewery. Pick up trash and help remove waste from our waters to create a healthy ecosystem for people and animals alike to enjoy. Sponsored bySustainability and Energy Management.

• Tuesday, April 8

  Campus Clean Up - Residential Programming Opportunity
  11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
  Locations across Boone campus, exact locations TBD

  Event Link →

  Sustainability and Energy Management invites all campus RA’s and their students to walk around campus to collect waste. We all love to enjoy our campus and want it to be clean. Get to know your floor mates and RA better with this interactive experience*

  *If your RA is unable to attend with your hall group or you live off campus but you are interested in attending this event please still RSVP through the interest form and you can join us!

• Thursday, April 10

  Mess on the Mall
  1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
  Sanford Mall

  Suit up and take a deeper look at trash, recycling, and composting on campus. Staff fromSustainability and Energy Management give tips on making our campus a zero waste environment.

• Saturday, April 12

  Event Link →

  Zero Waste Football
  1 p.m.
  Kidd Brewer Stadium

  Help us make The Battle At the Rock football game Zero Waste. We will be distributing recycling bags at the tailgate and hand-sorting waste during the game into trash, recycling, and compost. The following day we will hold a larger sort with our staff and volunteers to divert as much waste from the landfill as possible. Sponsored by and Energy Management

• Monday, April 14

  Zero Waste Staff Appreciation
  1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
  Holmes Convocation Center

  Event Link →

  Staff from Sustainability and Energy Management will be working alongside App State’s Office of Human Resources to host this year's staff appreciation event as a zero-waste program. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with Sustainability and Energy Management staff with the chance to learn more about composting on campus.

• Monday, April 14

  Cooking with Purpose Session
  5:30 p.m.
  Zoom link will be shared

  Register Here →

  Register for Cooking With Purpose, a free, online cooking series for App State students who want to improve their cooking skills by learning how to cook items that are inexpensive, nutritious, sustainable and delicious!

• Tuesday, April 15

  Free Store Road Show
  11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
  Sanford Mall

  Event Link →

  Donate your old clothes and pick up some new things for your closet! The Free Store hits Sanford Mall to celebrate Earth Month. Help divert landfill waste and learn how donating your old clothes helps the environment and your community. Sponsored by Sustainability and Energy Management.

• Sun. - Thurs., April 13-17

  We Birthed the Movement: The History and Future of the Environmental Justice Movement in North Carolina - Environmental Justice Exhibition
  Belk Library, 1st floor exhibition area

  Event Link →

  In December 1978, North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. announced a plan to build a toxic landfill in the rural community of Afton (Warren County) to store 60,000 tons of soil laced with cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that had been dumped illegally on 240 miles of North Carolina roadways earlier that summer. Over the next four years, a group of concerned citizens responded, mounting legal and scientific challenges to what they deemed an act of “toxic aggression.”

  By 1982, after attempts to block the landfill through the courts had failed, a broader coalition attempted to physically stop the trucks from bringing in the PCBs. After seven weeks of protests and more than 500 arrests, the state still dumped more than 7,000 truckloads of contaminated soil into a community whose population was 60% Black. The intersection of environmentalism and civil rights in the Warren County fight was transformational. Forty years later, it has become recognized as the birthplace of the environmental justice movement.

  Hosted by Sustainability & Energy Management, Department of Sustainable Development, and the Center for Appalachian Studies. Additionally sponsored by: AppDocs, QEP Pathway to Resilience, Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, Public Health, RIEEE, Lovill House Inn, Belk Library, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, UNC Library, and the Southern Documentary Project.

• Tuesday, April 15

  Sustainability Film Series - Our Movement Starts Here - Earth Month Film and Panel Discussion
  6 p.m.
  Appalachian Theatre of the High Country

  Event Link →

  This is the story of a rural community in the American South that inspired the international environmental justice movement and articulated the concept of environmental racism by fighting the state of North Carolina’s toxic landfill.

  Co-directors John Rash and Melanie Ho both work as professors and filmmakers at the Southern Documentary Project, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. Their work aims to preserve the stories of the American South, especially those from underserved and under-documented communities. John Rash was born in North Carolina and received his MFA in Experimental and Documentary Art from Duke University. Melanie Ho was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and received her MFA from the University of California Santa Cruz’s Social Documentation program.

  Panelists include:
  Dollie Burwell, activist and leader in the environmental justice movement
  The Rev. William Kearney, developer of the Warren County Environmental Action Team
  Jenny Labalme, Warren County protest photographer
  John Rash, professor and filmmaker at the Southern Documentary Project

  Hosted by Sustainability & Energy Management, Department of Sustainable Development, and the Center for Appalachian Studies. This film and the events surrounding this event are additionally sponsored by: AppDocs, QEP Pathway to Resilience, Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, Public Health, RIEEE, Lovill House Inn, Belk Library, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, UNC Library, and the Southern Documentary Project.

• Wednesday, April 16

  Environmental Justice Celebration Day at FARM Cafe
  11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
  F.A.R.M. Cafe, King St Boone

  Event Link →

  Join us for lunch and celebration as we honor the birth of the environmental justice movement, here in NC. Buy Boone Lunch is sponsored by 'Our Movement Starts Here'" (an Appalachian State University Environmental Justice Learning Collaboration). Hosted by Sustainability & Energy Management, Department of Sustainable Development, and the Center for Appalachian Studies. Additionally sponsored by: AppDocs, QEP Pathway to Resilience, Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, Public Health, RIEEE, Lovill House Inn, Belk Library, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, UNC Library, and the Southern Documentary Project.

• Wednesday, April 16

  Waste Wise Wednesday
  11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
  Central Dining Hall

  Event Link →

  Play the waste sorting game in Central Dining Hall. As you play, you'll learn which items can be recycled, added to the compost bin, or simply put in the trash. Winners of the game will receive a raffle ticket which will put them in the running for a swag bag filled with merchandise from Sustainability and Energy Management. Pick up free stickers, buttons and reusable items.

• Saturday, April 19

  Zero Waste Baseball
  1 p.m.
  Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium

  Event Link →

  Building on the zero waste initiatives in basketball and football, App State is bringing the effort to baseball! Join our Sustainability Ambassadors as we hand-sort waste into recycling and compost to minimize landfill impact. If you're attending, stop by our table for zero-waste games, swag, and learn more about sustainability efforts. You’ll also see our zero waste stations, now featuring compost options.

• Tuesday, April 22

  Earth Day Expo
  11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
  Sanford Mall

  Event Link →

  Explore sustainable organizations on and off campus and connect with groups representing each of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Students can take on a challenge from Sustainability and Energy Management—learn about at least 10 of the 17 goals to earn a free, limited-edition Earth Day T-shirt !Sponsored by Sustainability and Energy Management.

• Thursday, April 24

  Grad Expo/Regalia Reuse
  9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
  Grandfather Ballroom - Plemmons Student Union

  Event Link →

  Stop by the sustainability table at the Grad Expo to learn about our regalia reuse program and take the sustainability graduation pledge with the department.

• Friday, April 25

  Rockin Roots
  4 - 7 p.m.
  Roots Garden, Howard Street

  Event Link →

  What's better than an evening of music in the garden? Enjoy a free concert celebrating our campus gardens and Earth Month. It’ll be a fun night of live music, interactive activities, and information from campus environmental groups. Bring a blanket, grab a friend, and relax on the Roots Garden lawn. Sponsored by Sustainability and Energy Management.

• Saturday, April 26

  Yosef's Locker Vintage Clothing Partnership: Athletics and Sustainability & Energy Management Join Forces for Earth Month
  10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
  Yosef’s Locker, North End Zone, Kidd Brewer Stadium 135 Jack Branch Dr, Boone, NC 28608

  Event Link →

  Bring your vintage or gently used App State apparel to Yosef's Locker and receive up to 35% off select in-store items. The more you donate, the greater your in-store discount—available exclusively for that day. All donations will remain on campus and be distributed to the Mountaineer Food Hub and Free Store to support members of the App State community in need.

  Give back to your fellow Mountaineers and support a great cause!

• Tuesday, April 29

  Free Store RoadShow/Terrarium Workshop
  11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
  Sanford Mall

  Event Link →

  Donate your old clothes and pick up some new things for your closet! The Free Store hits Sanford Mall to celebrate Earth Month. Help divert landfill waste and learn how donating your old clothes helps the environment and your community.

  Come build a terrarium with Sustainability Ambassadors! Sustainability and Energy Management will provide supplies to build an enclosed miniature garden full of rocks, moss, lichen, and flowers. You’ll be creating your own miniature ecosystem!

  Sponsored by Sustainability and Energy Management