Green Team commemorates Earth Week with tree planting by the river

“Something has to be done to combat climate change,” said Carlos Rivera, but it doesn’t need to be a large initiative to make necessary changes.

Doing small things, like planting trees along the New River, “can eventually lead to big improvements to the environment, said Rivera, president of Radford University’s Green Team Environmental Club.

In the midafternoon on Wednesday, April 19, during Earth Week, Rivera and his fellow Green Team members took a small step toward improving the Earth and the lives of its inhabitants by planting a buckeye, a willow and a river branch tree between the river and the Dedmon Center.

“These particular species were chosen based on the spot along the New River, and the hope is that they might thrive in that environment,” said Rivera, a senior geospatial science major from Front Royal, Virginia. “These trees will be out there growing for decades and will provide a habitat for animals and insects and take CO2 out of the air.”

Plus, it was a “fun, hands-on activity,” Rivera said, for the Green Team, a group that regularly contributes to sustainability initiatives on campus and in the Radford community.

“Student engagement is key to our mission at Radford University. Clubs like the Green Team provide a welcoming outlet for students to create meaningful change on our campus and in the community,” said Stockton Maxwell, Ph.D., associate professor of geospatial science. “This Earth Week, the Green Team helped the university move toward its goal of campus sustainability through those tree plantings, neighborhood cleanups and awareness campaigns. At Radford, students can be the change they want to see."