The 32-foot gray whale, on loan from Recology CleanScapes, is made of 9,000 plastic bags braided together, as well as other debris. The whale will be on display in the lobby of the PUB through April 30 as part of Earth Week celebrations.

Shoreline Community College’s Earth Week 2015 was a rousing success, with more than 700 people participating in over a dozen events centered around this year’s theme, “Fostering an Ethic of Place.”

“This year’s Earth Week seeks to explore our relationship with the place that Shoreline calls home,” said Robert Hayden, Earth Week advisor, “by opening our eyes to the history of our campus, examining our roles in this community, and envisioning what we can do in the future to create a more equitable, economical, and environmentally just community, with the end goal of reaching sustainability.”

The week kicked off on Sun., April 19 with storytelling at the Duwamish Longhouse featuring native storytellers Gene Tagaban, Mary Anne Moorman and Lorraine Bayes and culminated Sat., April 25 with a habitat restoration work party attended by 35 people in the Upper Boeing Creek Watershed.

Keynote speaker Edie Loyer-Nelson, a former trustee of SCC and current Duwamish tribal member, and social sciences faculty member Michelle Kleisath at the Earth Day kickoff event.

In between these bookend events, the Shoreline community was treated to a kickoff that included keynote speaker Edie Loyer-Nelson, a former trustee of SCC and current Duwamish tribal member. Loyer-Nelson talked about what we mean by “Fostering an Ethic of Place” and why one needs to know who and what came before them to make sense of where we are today.

All week long the campus community enjoyed a whole host of events ranging from Amp Your Voice (a workshop that taught students hands-on advocacy and civic engagement skills) to nature walks, from a native plant sale and free veggie sampling by Patty Pan Cooperative to film showings including “Wall-E,” “Soylent Green” and “Princess Angeline.”

A representative from Patty Pan Cooperative cooked up grilled veggies for Earth Day.

Earth Week festivities also included a recycled art show, with entries made from recycled materials or with an ecological theme. The winning artists were Lulu Gao for her recycled art piece of two humans holding up the world, and Michael Logozzo for his environmental art piece entitled “Frog in a Coal Mine.” The winners each received a Discover Pass.

The Earth Week raffle awarded a total of 34 prizes including reusable bags, owl mugs, Shoreline T-shirts and $25 gift certificates to Patty Pan Grill.

A submission in the recycled art show – a dress constructed from plastic bags, with an accompanying necklace of keys.

Festivities ended with two events focused on the beauty of the SCC campus’ natural surroundings: a nature walk and a habitat restoration work party.

Friday’s nature walk to lower Boeing Creek was well worth it for 16 individuals who discovered an almost pristine trail down to Puget Sound.

On Saturday 35 volunteers pulled out about 1,000 square feet of ivy and cut out about 30 invasive laurel and holly trees. Then the volunteers, mostly students, planted about 50 native plants including serviceberry, salal, Indian plum, cascara, wood fern, vanilla leaf, vine maple and big leaf maple.

SCC Prof. Matt Loper leads the charge at Saturday’s Boeing Creek habitat restoration work party. Photo credit: Rosemary Dunne.

A student worker and some pint-sized volunteers at Saturday’s Boeing Creek habitat restoration work party. Photo credit: Rosemary Dunne.

Student volunteers at Saturday’s Boeing Creek habitat restoration work party. Photo credit: Rosemary Dunne. 

Earth Week activities may be over, but one vestige of the event still remains: you can view the 32-foot gray whale made of recycled plastic bags in the PUB lobby through April 30.

All in all, the week was a great success and Shoreline thanks and congratulates all who were instrumental in making the event run so smoothly.