To commemorate Earth Day this year, campus club Project: Earth Tomorrow decided to planted a tree in front of the administration building on May 6.

Club president Tina Davtyan, vice president Monica Diehl and club member Joe Boghosian planted the crepe myrtle as a permanent reminder of Earth Day 2008.

The crepe myrtle can thrive in all seasons of the year, hot or cold, and will blossom throughout the year. The tree was donated by Garden View Nursery in Irwindale.

As the tree was planted the club members had a picnic and danced around it. In a brief ceremony every member took part in planting the tree by taking the shovel and adding dirt for the tree.

“When I come and visit the campus, I want to come by the administration building and say ‘I planted a tree here,’ and I’ll feel good about it,” said Diehl, 29, vice president of Project: Earth Tomorrow.

The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970. It was initiated by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin democrat who proposed a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment.

What resulted was a series of teach-ins on college campuses throughout the nation. More than 20 million Americans were thought to have participated.

Nelson was later to say that the Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level.

Many attribute the first Earth Day to the passage of the Clean Air Act, laws protecting drinking water, wild lands and the ocean, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the chief federal agency overseeing the protection of the environment.

Davtyan said of her club’s effort: “I wanted a permanent reminder of Earth Day; I feel our campus could be more environmentally friendly.

“GCC tries to be environmentally friendly with solar power, and recycling but they should go an extra mile,” said Davtyan.
Davtyan’s goal is to have others join Project: Earth Tomorrow. Every year they want a plant a new tree.

“They provide shade, which slows the evaporation from thirsty lawns,” said Lacey Von Deak of Tree People. Tree People visited the campus during the Earth Day festival to give students information and motivate them to get involved.

Project: Earth Tomorrow is the first club to use solar energy for grills and blenders, while offering organic vegetarian food and smoothies on campus.

For more information or to join Project: Earth Tomorrow the club meets every Tuesday in CS173 from noon until 1 p.m.