Local businesses and campus organizations gathered at Centennial Mall and in front of DSU to celebrate Earth Day on Friday, April 19. 

Students walked around from booth to booth and were able to learn about sustainability and different environmental issues. 

“The weather has a big thing to do with Earth Day, you know the earth, there’s weather all over the globe and our weather is changing because our Earth is changing,” Sam Taylor, president of White Squirrel Weather, said.

Through some local businesses, participants could make a bouquet of flowers or pick up a potted plant. A WKU oceanography class presented their research at the event, and one group tackled coral bleaching. 

“When they’re [coral] stressed by changes in conditions such as increased temperature, lying or nutrients they expel their symbiotic algae living in their tissues, which gives them their color that causes them to turn completely white, leaving them more susceptible to diseases,”Mackenzie Senig, a student researcher, said. 

Senig also demonstrated how coral bleaching works with a sponge and food coloring, which showed how the color bleeds from coral due to bleaching. 

Along with educational booths, there were food trucks and animals, which are typically found at the event every year.

“Everybody likes to come visit the alpacas, it’s always a good environment,” Shawna Gilbert, owner of Happy Herd Farm, said.

News Reporter Izzy Lanuza can be reached at i[email protected].