2 Minutes With … Adya Kadambari: Putting a focus on Earth Week

2 Minutes With … is a series of short features to introduce us to the passions and interests of Lawrence students on and off campus. 

The COVID-19 pandemic may have kept us from celebrating together in 2020, but Earth Day and Earth Week festivities at Lawrence will spring back into action in the coming days. Adya Kadambari ‘23, chair of the new LUCC Ad Hoc Sustainability Committee, has played a lead role in organizing the events.

Formed this year, the LUCC Ad Hoc Sustainability Committee brings together students from Lawrence’s numerous environmentally-centered student organizations, including Greenfire, ORC (Outdoor Recreation Club), and SLUG (Sustainable Lawrence University Gardens), to discuss and support sustainability efforts.

Lawrence’s Earth Week schedule includes, among other things, LU Earth Hour, a lights-out event and gathering on Main Hall Green on the evening of Earth Day (April 22), a screening of the documentary film I Am Greta on April 23, and an Earth Day Gala on April 24.

A growing interest

While chairing this committee is Kadambari’s first environmental leadership role, she’s not new to the subject. When she was approached about taking on the chair duties, she had already sat in on many Sustainability Committee meetings, where she was involved in reducing plastic waste and facilitating use of reusable bags at Warch Campus Center.

Her environmental stewardship was nurtured before she came to Lawrence. While in school in her hometown of Bangalore, India, she completed a geographical research project through Cambridge Board on Lake Ulsoor. Her interest in environmental issues has continued to grow, she said.

Organizing in a pandemic

The ongoing pandemic makes this a complicated time to organize events meant to include many students.

“This entire thing is a challenge for me,” Kadambari said. “I need to take a lot of things into account. You need to reserve outdoor spaces and give a proposed plan for why your event is going to be COVID-safe.”

Despite technical roadblocks, Kadambari and the rest of the committee have worked hard to make the celebration safe for everyone.

For her part, Kadambari has planned a mass planting of native flowering plants behind Sage Hall Loft. She also helped put together the Greenfire-sponsored LU Earth Hour event, where students will be encouraged to turn off all the lights in their rooms and venture outside to look at the stars and talk about astronomy and energy conservation.

Other Earth Week favorites will return this year, such as the Saturday gala hosted by Greenfire, which can be enjoyed on Main Hall Green as well as virtually.

Kadambari looks forward to Earth Day as a time to celebrate our environment and encourage sustainability at Lawrence. But it has also taken on new meaning as a chance to safely step outside and enjoy the world in ways that haven’t been as available to us lately.

“I hope the student body comes out because it should be better weather,” she said. “Now that we’ve been cooped up for so long, they should come out and have fun.”

In the spirit of Earth Day, she also reminds students about the sustainability grants available to those who want to enact a sustainability project on campus.

“If you have any ideas that you want to put money toward, there are multiple grants you can apply for through the steering committee and LUCC. It’s just a matter of getting involved and being proactive.”