A large waste stream is "out of date" textbooks that either end up in landfills or recycled. Cut up old books and make something new and creative that would otherwise end up in the trash. You can take old textbooks to create your very own collage artwork and buttons. This is the perfect activity for all ages!

These mobile kinetic modular art objects are made from fallen branches bound together with ropes. Their structure maintains organic form and reflects a reflective and physical meditation on non-Euclidian and botanical approaches to development, growth and balance. The portals are made using minimal tools, no electricity, and manifest creative architectural forms inspired by natural structures and processes like dendritic branching, neural networks, and mycelium.

Creations by Associate Professor of Dance, Laura Katz-Rizzo. 

Climate Cafés are unique therapeutic models for individuals experiencing climate grief or eco-anxiety, creating informal, open, respectful, and a confidential space to safely share emotional responses and reactions to the climate emergency.  

Climate Cafés prioritize an exploration of thoughts, feelings and experiences rather than planning action. Instead, participants support each other with a haven from usual busyness and activity via a reflective practice that helps relieve the burden of anxiety and grief. Office of Sustainability staff members and select EcoReps were trained to facilitate climate cafes by the North American Climate Psychology Alliance. 

Over 50 students of all different majors came together to share intimate feelings of grief, anxiety, guilt and helplessness. The Climate Cafés enabled deep connection and dialogue amongst like-minded peer facilitators and participants with similar struggles. Furthermore, they helped develop coping skills and strategies to promote and protect student wellness and engender resiliency.  

Students themselves create an interdisciplinary and holistic experience where peers learn from each other, sharing their diverse perspectives and approaches to interacting with climate and the environment, coming together to work through and process shared climate grief intellectually, cognitively and emotionally. 

Inspired by nature and poetry, this 20-minute selection of music is part of a larger project of new works for vibraphone. Each of these pieces is the result of close collaboration with composers James Loughery, Dan Maguire, and Joseph Harkins and represents a variety of compositional styles.

The goal of these pieces is to inspire a sense of awe and wonder at the serenity and beauty of nature.  

Loughery’s By Lone Sea Breakers And Desolate Streams is inspired by Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s “Ode.” 

Maguire’s Wind and Light draws inspiration from local weather conditions. This multi-media performance of Wind and Light includes a simultaneous layering of a prior work of Maguire’s Atmoambience Station which uses a locally placed weather station to generate electronic sounds and video.  

Harkin’s Ganoga for Vibraphone and Piano is a response to time spent in Rickett’s Glen State Park in Pennsylvania. The piece mimics the lengths and contours of the waterfalls found in Ganoga Glen. Ganoga is part of a larger collection of nature-inspired works I have commissioned from Harkins.  

These three distinct pieces all resonate with a unified message: there is great natural beauty in our world, and we must conserve and preserve it for future generations.    

Performed by:

Micheal Barnes, vibraphone
Maria Dell’Orefice, piano

It is too easy to feel hopeless in the face of the climate crisis today; however, a group of young activists have made the brave step of facing this existential dread head on, turning their anger and fear into organized and successful direct action. Andrew Gioannetti’s Resilient Generation aims to inspire people to jump this gap between passion and action by playing music that encourages our audience to embrace the uncomfortability of our present situation.  

Drawing inspiration from musicians such as Ornette Coleman and Esperanza Spalding and climate organizations like Climate Defiance and Just Stop Oil, their music urges people to become comfortable facing uncomfortable truths, feel the urgency of the moment, and become an active part of the global climate movement. Regaining our power in this way is the most effective path to personal and global climate wellness.  

Andrew Gioannetti, woodwinds 
Rockwell Valentine, trumpet 
Jackie Johnson, voice 
Jake Miller, guitar 
Josh Klamka, keyboard  
Emmy Rota, bass 
Max Dolgin, drums 

Resonating Woods is an immersive electroacoustic performance installation that delves into the intricate and often unseen relationships within a forest ecosystem, specifically focusing on the cyclical nature of trees at varying levels - from the mycelial/root structures, through the human level, to the ultrasonic canopy. This innovative project, led by the Boyer College Electroacoustic Ensemble Project (BEEP) under the direction of Dr. Adam Vidiksis, seeks to create a harmonious interplay between natural forest rhythms as revealed through sophisticated electronic soundscapes. 
 
At the root level, the installation explores the mycelial networks, a crucial yet hidden aspect of forest ecosystems. These networks, akin to natural internet systems, enable trees and plants to communicate and share resources. By translating these interactions into sonic elements, "Resonating Woods" offers a unique auditory representation of this subterranean world, highlighting the interconnectedness and communal support system of the forest floor. 
 
Transitioning upwards, the installation engages with the human level, where the tactile and sensory experiences of forest interactions come to life. This middle layer represents the immediate and tangible connections humans have with trees - from the rustling of leaves to the creaking of branches. It is here that the blend of natural sounds and electronic music becomes most evident, creating a soundscape that resonates with our intrinsic connection to nature. 
 
Finally, at the highest level, Resonating Woods ascends to the ultrasonic canopy, a realm where high-frequency sounds, imperceptible to the human ear, play a vital role in the life of a forest. These ultrasonic emissions, often a response to environmental stressors, form an ethereal and otherworldly layer of the installation. By electronically processing and integrating these frequencies into the soundscape, the installation offers a rare glimpse into the upper echelons of forest communication and survival strategies. 

Inspired by Temple research on the fate of solar energy in our environment, this site-specific dance duet will draw attention to the vitality of the photosynthesis process and the work needed to transition to a renewable energy future. Supported by an original score composed by Christopher Farrell, the dancers, undergraduates Dyn Marie Garcia and Elora Probyn, will perform at the site of two active research experiments.