EARTH WEEK 2023
Join us from April 15 to April 28 for events that celebrate our commitment to sustainability. Find out more on the Sustainability Calendar.

This is our tentative schedule. Some events may change. Check back to confirm.
Heirloom Apple Tree Grafting and Scionwood Exchange
Saturday April 15, 2:00-5:00 pm – Sage Hall Atrium
Dan Bussey, Henry Jacobson, and John Kring (Maple Valley Orchards) will be available to teach grafting and help you make new apple trees, or they can do it for you. We will have a limited number of trees available for grafting. We will have rare heirloom varieties available for you to choose from. Trees and grafting are free but you can donate to the Cental Mine heirloom orchard. Email dijkstrm@uwosh.edu for more information.
Screening of All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen, 2022)
Tuesday April 18, 6:30 pm – Sage 1210
Co-presented by the International Film Series, hosted by Adam Diller (Radio, Television, and Film Program)
All That Breathes, directed by Shaunak Sen follows two brothers who run a bird hospital dedicated to rescuing injured black kites, a staple in the skies of New Delhi, India. As environmental toxicity and civil unrest escalate, the relationship between this family and the neglected kites forms a poetic chronicle of the city’s collapsing ecology and deepening social fault lines.
“Gay Penguins and Genderqueer Fungi: Nonbinariness Beyond the Human”
Wednesday April 19, 2:00-3:30 pm – Sage 3224: Dr. Misty McPhee (Environmental Studies)
Co-sponsored by the WAGS Speaker Series and Social Justice Week
Curious about the range of gender and sexual expression in the nonhuman world? So are we. Come learn with us!
Screening of The Chocolate War – followed by conversation
Wednesday April 19, 5:00 pm-7:00 pm – Sage 1214: Dr. Misty McPhee (Environmental Studies)
Co-presented with Social Justice Week
The Chocolate War is a documentary by director and journalist Miki Mistrati shedding a light on child slavery in the cocoa and chocolate industry. The Chocolate War follows Collingsworth for five years in his lonely fight against the multi-billion-dollar chocolate industry and their army of lawyers.
Hands On Earth Day
Saturday April 22, 9:00 am-12:00 pm
Volunteers will sign up to help out at the UW Oshkosh Community Garden, plant and mulch on campus, or participate in a nature walk and pick up trash to clean up campus.
Meeting outside Kolf, near tennis courts; check-in starts at 8:30 am
Free School
Saturday April 22, 1:00-5:00 pm – 3rd floor Sage Hall
Co-sponsored with Student Environmental Action Coalition
Free School is a fun day of learning for all ages, and this year our theme is Environmental Awareness for Earth Day. Free School was created to recognize that education should be affordable for everyone. Admission is free and there are classes and activities for all ages. Open to the public.
View 2023 Schedule
Screening of True Cost – followed by conversation
Monday April 24, 5:00-7:30 pm – Sage 1214
This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world.
Dawn Moneyhan, “Re-establishing Connections: Utilizing Indigenous Culture for Addressing the Climate Crisis”
Tuesday April 25, 9:40-11:10 am Sage 1216
Co-sponsored by the Inter-Tribal Student Coalition
Join us for a conversation on reconnecting individuals with the Earth and acknowledging the abundance of natural resources available to us. The session will conclude with a hands-on demonstration, small props provided.
Dawn Moneyham is a wife, mother, grandmother, enrolled member of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and Chief Clergy and President of the Kwewag Indigenous Culture Church.
View presentation below.
Sustainability Certificates Info Session and Capstone Presentations
Tuesday, April 25, 1:30-2:30 pm – Sage 2224
Come hear presentations by the first graduates of the Sustainability Certificates program, and learn more about the five Sustainability Certificates we offer!
Bike Repair Fair
Wednesday April 26, 11:00 am-2:00 pm – Reeve Union Concourse:
Students – get your bike tuned up for spring/summer! Minor tune up/repairs are free. Additional work will be referred to Winnebago Bicycle in downtown Oshkosh.
Earth Week Keynote
Ken Leinbach, founder of the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee: “It’s Kinda Fun to do the Impossible: Finding Abundance in Urban Communities”
Thursday April 27, 5-8 pm – Sage 1210 and online: https://wisconsin-edu.zoom.us/j/94750265546
The rags-to-riches story of how the Urban Ecology Center grew from a double wide trailer in a high crime park into a global education model fostering ecological understanding as inspiration for change. Will the next Urban Ecology Center be in Oshkosh? Come find out!
Copies of Ken’s Book, “Urban Ecology,” will be available for sale.
Co-sponsored by SIRT, Sociology, and Wildlife Conservation Club
Speaker Biography:
Ken Leinbach, an internationally recognized author, science educator, and leader in community-based education is best known for his work creating the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee. The Center’s formula of using environmental education as a tool for inspiring urban revitalization has captured the attention of city leaders across the globe. Ken and the Urban Ecology Center have been featured in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, Orion Magazine, Milwaukee Public Television, and in Richard Louv’s best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods.
Ken, a certified high school teacher, holds a biology degree from Antioch College, a master’s degree from Prescott College, and an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. His awards have followed his work, including the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Natural Science (Virginia), Nature Educator of the Year from the Roger Tory Peterson Institute (New York), and the Martin Luther King Award (Milwaukee). A public speaker on topics including green living, finding abundance, and play, Ken authored Urban Ecology: A Natural Way to Transform Kids, Parks, Cities, and the World and is now training people from cities across the globe on the Center’s mission of connecting people in cities to nature and each other.
Ken is a member of the Governor-appointed Wisconsin’s Coastal Management Council and a founding member of the international Academy for Systems Change. He lives in the neighborhood in which he works, having created the Hawks Nest, an intentional community and Airbnb located in the heart of Milwaukee.
Because he chooses not to own a car, Ken can be seen commuting to work by bike, unicycle, or on occasion, kayak.
Arbor Day Observance
Friday April 28th, 10:30 AM – behind Oviatt House, Oshkosh campus
Join us for a brief ceremony to observe Arbor Day and UWO’s commitment to planting trees through our Tree Campus Higher Education membership. This is the 14th year for the Oshkosh campus to be a member through Tree Campus Higher Education. We will be planting an oak to replace the oak that we lost last year.
Sustainability Institute for Regional Transformations
UW Oshkosh
800 Algoma Blvd.
Oshkosh, WI 54901
