Student environmentalists may have to sharpen their fundraising skills.
Funding for the annual Earth Day celebration is not panning out according to the plans of its sponsor, Terra Firma.
Last week, the Associated Students of the University of Utah assembly nixed a bill requesting about $2,000 in funding for the event.
Although Terra Firma did not get the money it wanted, the event will still take place.
“We’re going to make it happen. It’s going to be a lot more difficult,” said Kevin Emerson, Terra Firma co director.
Prior to Terra Firma’s submitting the bill for Earth Day funding, ASUU had already appropriated more than $2,000 to Terra Firma.
“We do feel Earth Day is very important, that’s shown by the fact they received more funds than any other student group so far this year,” said Mike Nelson, ASUU vice president and assembly chair.
ASUU has about $34,000 to divide among 210 student groups, he said.
These funds have shrunk since last year, and allocating the chunk of money Terra Firma wanted could potentially hamper other events, according to Jon Hatch, Appropriations Committee chair.
Terra Firma has organized Earth Day, which features local musicians, vendors and non profit groups, for the past five years, according to Emerson.
“Terra Firma feels it’s a very important event,” he said. The Earth Day celebration increases awareness of environmental issues?how humans interact with the Earth and how important understanding our relationship with the Earth is.
He hopes the celebration will grow.
“We’d like to make it a bigger deal and get more of the community from off campus involved,” Emerson said. “We don’t want to make it exclusively a student celebration.”
This year, Terra Firma estimated the event would cost $2,700. And despite the fact that Terra Firma’s latest funding bill did not pass, Earth Day is not without ASUU funding.
In a previous allocation, ASUU dedicated $500 to Earth Day. Terra Firma can also redirect funds it acquired for other purposes to fund Earth Day, Nelson said.
And while this is a possibility, the films, speakers and other Terra Firma events need funding, according to Emerson.
With about 30 active members, the environmental organization describes itself as “one of the most prominent and active student groups on campus,” in the legislation.
The estimated cost of this year’s celebration is slightly higher than last year’s?roughly $2,000, according to Staci Carsten, last year’s co-president.
Carsten said she was pleased with last year’s turnout?despite poor publicity efforts.
“Students were there throughout the day. There was always something going on,” she said. “ASUU is making a mistake.”
Previously, other organizations, both on and off campus, have helped out. Soliciting these organizations may be this year’s solution, Emerson said.
Ideally, Terra Firma should have had more time to explain its requests to the representatives, he said.
“It was really hard for us to get our point across,” Emerson said.