Happy Earth Month: How College Students Can Celebrate At Home

This April marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. How are you going to celebrate?

Need ideas of how you can enjoy it safely at-home and online? Check out the opportunities below for college and university students, faculty and staff.

Take the #MyWildLife Challenge

Show Us Your Wild Life! Whether it’s in a backyard or the wilderness, National Wildlife Federation is inviting you to take the #MyWildLife Challenge and post photos of your wild life. We want to see how you unplug, unwind, and take in the awe-inspiring world of wildlife and the great outdoors. And you can even win an awesome outdoor adventure pack!

You are invited to share as many photos as you like of you and your family enjoying nature and the outdoor places you love the most. To enter, upload your photos to the Challenge website and post them to your favorite social media platform using the hashtag #MyWildLife. Just one rule: no selfies with wildlife animals. Upload photos April 1 through April 30, 2020. Winners will be chosen at random and notified via email.

Submit a Campus Case Study and Share Your Best Practices in Zero Waste, Waste Reduction, and Recycling

Campuses are encouraged to share their strategies and activities in waste reduction, zero waste, and recycling with the Campus Race to Zero Waste Program (formerly RecycleMania). Winners will be recognized in three categories: education and awareness, waste minimization, and food waste reduction. All case studies will be featured online so you can Learn from Your Peers. More information about this opportunity and the case study template is available here. This is a great opportunity to share your successes, provide advice to campuses working on similar efforts, and receive recognition for all your effort to reduce waste on campus! All campuses are welcome to submit a case study – even if your campus did not participate in the RecycleMania 2020 competition. Case studies are due on May 31, 2020.

Plant with a Purpose

While you can’t host a potluck with friends and neighbors right now, you can get outside in your own yards and garden spaces while practicing physical-distancing. Now is a great time to make a plan to create a wildlife habitat garden. You can plant a natural buffet to attract beautiful birds, bees and butterflies to your yards and balconies. Even a small space, with the right plants or supplemental feeders, will invite colorful wildlife. 

Continue to read National Wildlife Federation blog, De-Stress–While Helping Wildlife.

Take a Virtual Field Trip through Nature’s Witness – National Wildlife Federation Photography Exhibition

Experience 50 images from around the world, each with a story to tell. Listen to what they have to say. Photographers not only highlight the beauty and wonder of nature, but also present images that remind us all to protect and conserve the wildlife and habitats that help sustain life on Earth. They show us the magnificence of nature and how wildlife deserve—and desperately need—our help to survive. Join us, because #WildlifeCantWait. Take a virtual field trip through the first-ever exhibition of wildlife photography chosen from the National Wildlife® photo contest. 

Become a National Wildlife Federation EcoLeader

This Earth month, boost your skills to be a leader for the environment with NWF EcoLeaders! Connect with other student and young professional leaders across the country and access the many resources available to help you in the EcoLeaders community:

• Ask questions, share resources and connect in the discussion forums
• Brush up on your environmental knowledge by exploring the EcoTopic pages
• Start planning your project with the Project Planning Template and Resource Library
• Share your efforts with the community by creating a project profile
• Earn recognition for your leadership with EcoLeader Certifications