DuBOIS, Pa. — Students, faculty, staff and members of the community came to Penn State DuBois today to celebrate Earth Day. The gym floor at the PAW Center featured numerous educational exhibits and several local organizations and businesses that highlighted their sustainability efforts.

“This event is important for our campus and the community to see everything that these organizations are doing to be more sustainable,” said Michele Joseph, information services and resources specialist at Penn State DuBois. “This event shows that Earth Day is so much more than recycle, reuse and reduce. Earth Day really is a celebration of everyone becoming more sustainable to make the Earth a better place.”

The event, sponsored by the Green Team at Penn State DuBois, had over 20 local organization in attendance sharing information and displaying their sustainability efforts. Master gardeners from Clearfield and Jefferson Counties were also present, sharing gardening tips with individuals to help them prepare and make the most of the upcoming gardening season.

Penn State DuBois was also well represented with several student groups presenting information about research they have completed or sharing details about events and trips they have been part of. Rob Loeb, professor of biology and forestry at Penn State DuBois, was also on hand to share information on a research project he is currently conducting with seed sanctuaries that he designed and planted.

Another highlight of the event was the smoothie bike, which gave attendees the opportunity to have a delicious smoothie, but with a unique twist. Those wishing to have a smoothie had to do a bit of work to get it as the blender to mix everything together was not powered by a traditional wall outlet, rather by the user itself. The blender was hooked to a pedal bike that had to be pedaled to make the blender operate. Equipped with all the bells and whistles, or at least a bike bell like you would typically see on a normal riding bike, attendees got the chance to see the fruits of their labors as their smoothie mixed right in front of them while they were pedaling the bike.