Every spring, the University of Utah participates in Earth Week, a global celebration of the environment and sustainability, which culminates in Earth Day on April 22. This year, the Sustainability Office and the American Indian Resource Center (AIRC) are joining hands to bring Earth Week to the U.

Between April 17-22, join us for daily events, activities and learning opportunities that celebrate not only the earth but also the people and communities who have stewarded the land since time immemorial.

This year’s Earth Week theme, “Indigenizing Utah,” was developed in recognition that the university is located on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute tribes, and with respect for the enduring relationships that exist between many Indigenous peoples and lands. Featuring a keynote address by former Chairman of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation Darren Parry, as well as panels on food sovereignty and Indigenous water rights, Earth Week 2023 will honor Indigenous ways of knowing and relating to the land and explore what environmental justice means for Native communities.

“Native Americans have millennia of experience caring for the land,” said Kara Freedman, the U’s sustainability engagement and events coordinator. “With that in mind, I am really proud to be partnering with the AIRC for this year’s Earth Week and giving lots of space and time to understanding Indigenous ways of knowing, learning about tribal land and water rights and making better connections to native plants and animals here in Utah. To get stewardship right we need to continually learn about the places and people around us.”

You can find a full list of Earth Week events here. If your department or organization is hosting an Earth Week event that is not yet listed, please let us know at sustainability@utah.edu.