Anchor Intro: Something that will be 20-30 years in the making began its life today. Reporter Gabrielle Payne has more on how the students of Kent State are making a positive change to the planet.

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This year marks the 45th anniversary of the celebration of Earth Day. The holiday is a reminder that we must take action to protect the planet now before it’s too late.

Dorm students across Kent State campus participated in Recyclemania, an 8-week-long friendly competition to encourage waste reduction and energy conservation.

This year the honors dorm of Stopher-Johnson was victorious and was rewarded for their actions with a brand new tree. The event was hosted by University Facilities Management, Residence Services, and the Office of Sustainability.

Many students participated in the tree planting, as they followed the instructions of Tree Advisory Board Chairman Jason Knowles.

“Trees are a renewable resource. We take them down sometimes, and we need to make sure that we need to make sure that we plant new ones to make sure that resource is filled back in,” Knowles says.

This is the seventh year in a row that Kent State has planted a tree on campus in honor of Earth month.

Heather White, Grounds Manager of Kent believes that even the smallest action can positively impact the planet.

“This is their future. This is just the first step, and hopefully they can continue building on it themselves,” White says.

For more information on this year’s Earth week events, visit https://www.kent.edu/sustainability/earth-day.