Though Earth Day was Monday, staff and students celebrated the Earth amongst various conservationist groups, vendors and student clubs in the outdoor quad this Wednesday. Organized by LMCAS, the event included groups like the Mount Diablo Resource Recovery, Fresh Approach, the Sierra Club and many others.

A popular booth was that of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanic and Native Americans in Science, which allowed students to paint terra cotta planters, buy succulents and hold a gopher snake named Tyler.

The snake and plants were all provided by their former president Ricardo Black who works at Black Diamond Mines, a local park in the East Bay Regional Parks District. All of the proceeds from their booth are going to fund their next trip to the National Diversity Conference in October, an important event for the club.

“[SACNAS is] a STEM club that works towards diversifying the STEM fields,” said SACNAS member Vanessa Viveros.

Another LMC club, Women in STEM took the opportunity to fundraise for club activities.

The club advocates for women, minorities and others to enter the STEM field. They’ve also been focused on outreach at local high schools.

The booth included “DIY” terrariums with succulents that students could purchase and make on the spot. Some of the proceeds are going toward a future scholarship for high school students entering college.  

“We have this scholarship in progress,” said club member Angel Meza. “We we really want it to be a thing for high school students that are coming into college into a STEM field.”

Meza also hoped that by celebrating Earth Day, people will think more about the space they live in.

“Having a day where it’s focused on [the earth] could really change some people’s minds,” said Meza. “Hopefully in the future they do more for the earth.”

Other booths included organizations from around the Bay Area and beyond. One such booth was the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association.

“Bees are really a popular subject at this point in time due to colony collapse disorder disrupting the pollination supply,” said beekeeper Ed Sparacino.

Sparacino pointed out that bees are an essential part of multiple industries. The almond industry alone is worth billions due to the pollination that bees provide. However, that doesn’t always mean that the beekeepers are compensated fairly.

“Beekeepers make on the order of like $200 a hive for three week’s work,” said Sparacino.

Sparacino, on the other hand, just uses his hive for honey.

“It’s a hobby,” said the beekeeper.

The Sierra Club’s booth focused in on climate change and making changes for the better. Propped up on the booth was a whiteboard where people could pledge to make one change to decrease their carbon footprint to help lessen CO2 emissions.

“It takes everybody. It takes a lot of steps and some big steps,” said Sierra Club’s Joanne Drabek about the board. “It’s [the youth’s] future — I’m 70 you know? In 20 years I may not be here when the biggest impacts hit.”

Though a few days late, LMC’s Earth Day celebration was active, informational and started conversations about how to be better stewards to our planet.