There is one day each year dedicated to Mother Earth, and this year it happens to fall on Good Friday.

Regardless, that isn’t stopping the St. John’s Earth Club from making sure that the rest of the St. John’s community knows about Earth Day and how to celebrate the earth and make it a better place.

The Earth Club is hosting, along with several other organizations, St. John’s first Earth Fest on Tuesday April 19, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Great Lawn, in honor of going green and making a positive change for the environment. “This year is the first Earth Fest in the Earth Club’s history,” said Vida Pascual, co-president of the Earth Club.  “In previous years, we’ve had one table for the Earth Club, a recycling visual and a recycling demonstration on Earth Day.”

Earth Fest will include a Tie Dye Station, Face Painting and Swap Meet, where students will be able to trade clothing and other material to promote recycling. From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. the fun starts with games, trivia, an environmental fashion show and

giveaways. Starting at 12 p.m. will be the guest speaker from “The Zeitgeist Movement: NYC Chapter,” until 1 p.m., when speeches and student presentations start. From 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., Speak Out will begin and the Earth Club will invite all singers, rappers, poets and other artists to speak about the beauty of the earth and why it is important to care about the environment. To end the night, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. will be musical performances which will allow students to relax and enjoy nature and some good music!

The goal of Earth Fest, according to Pascual, is “to have a holistic, all-inclusive approach to the mobilization of the green movement at St. John’s University.   The overall goal of the Earth Fest is to plant the seeds of change for a higher standard of environmental living.”

Pascual said that the Earth Club hopes that with Earth Fest, more people in the St. John’s community will become aware of the issues facing our world and will be motivated to get involved in the green movement.

“Earth Club’s mission is to bring the green movement to St. John’s University and incorporate as many students as possible in ‘fighting the green fight.'”  The Earth Club also hopes that through Earth Fest, the St. John’s community and the greater New York area will come together and realize that interdependence is fundamental to make lasting changes for the better. Beyond the immediate St. John’s community, many organizations from the New York City environmental movement will be there. The Animal Rights Awareness Club, the Entrepreneurial Society, the Environmental Science Department, Kappa Phi Beta Sorority and Project A.I.M. are some on-campus groups that will be hosting tables alongside outside organizations like Jamaica Bay, The Zeitgeist Movement NYC Chapter, The Rainforest Alliance, United for Action and the Queens Zoo.

Everyone participating in the information tables will, “demonstrate that the environment involves and impacts everyone, and more importantly that each individual can choose to have a positive effect on our planet,” according to Pascual. They hope to

discuss issues such as global warming, pollination and the organic garden.

“The Earth Club just wants to remind everyone that as organisms taking part in the balance of nature, we are part of something greater than ourselves.  It is ultimately up to us to decide to make a positive, significant contribution to this balance.”