“Thinking about our resources and our needs currently, (thinking about) natural resources, and trying to conserve them and use them the best we can for the future,” said Emily Hill, a sustainability coordinator with the MSU Office of Sustainability.

Several booths at the event contained interactive activities for attendees, including a game intended to educate students on their water usage in the dorms sponsored by Residential and Hospitality Services, an Office of Sustainability sponsored polaroid photo booth, candy from the Spartan Sierra Club and a make-your-own tea bag station sponsored by Beal Botanical Gardens.

MSU Bikes assistant manager Erin Riley oversaw a booth explaining how bicycles are integral to keeping campus sustainable by reducing the amount of fossil fuels used for campus transportation. Riley also said biking immerses the rider in their outdoor environment, as opposed to being “stuck in a metal box” like a car or a bus. 

"The Beal Botanical Gardens chose the fair to engage students in connecting to the natural resources that plants provide," said Thomas Frost, a Beal interdisciplinary education scholar. The teabag options consisted of pine, elderberry, hawthorn, sumac, slippery elm, spearmint and lavender. 

“We use a large amount of our plants that we have that are native to Michigan," Frost said. "We take great care to make sure they are there to help the environment." 

To engage passersby, representatives from the Beal Botanical Gardens asked students to answer the question, “If you had a garden filled with only one plant, what would it be and why?” by posting a sticky note.  Sunflowers were a popular option due to their cheerful appearance, along with herbs that have a pleasing aroma, such as lavender and jasmine.

The Office of Sustainability also sponsored its own unique flavor at the MSU Dairy Store. After much deliberation, the team coined the name Berry Sustainable to describe the blueberry pie flavor they chose.  

The flavor provides “a way to kind of get folks who might not interact with it involved in thinking about how MSU is a great campus for sustainability," Hill said.

The entire event was focused on this sense of creating a space to let students explore and discover a new sense of awareness around sustainability topics.