Green Week, the three-day extension of LaGuardia's annual Earth Day event is back – this year’s theme is “Taking Action for the Environment.” Events will take place from April 17-19 including a fundraiser, film screening and green projects exhibit. All students are welcome and encouraged to get involved!

Green Week 2012 will kick-off with an all-day tabling event on Tuesday, April 17 in the E Building Atrium. There will be artwork, posters, media, and other interactive projects to display the hard work and creativity of students and faculty who strive to protect our natural resources. Local community advocates and organizations will also be present, sharing their own green initiatives.

Little known to many Brooklyn and Queens residents, Newtown Creek, a tributary of the East river that splits the two boroughs, is the site of one of the world’s largest oil spills. In addition to sewage, chemical and toxic waste dumping and runoff, the 3.8 mile creek is the site of an underground oil seepage that has left an estimated 17 to 30 million gallons of oil in the water and surrounding soil. While Newtown Creek has finally gained media recognition in the last year, being designated a federal Superfund site in September 2010, a group of students and faculty at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens have been monitoring the contaminated water for over two years. Under the direction of Dr. Sarah Durand, professor in the College’s Natural Sciences department, they are now working to begin natural remediation of toxins from the creek long before the Environmental Protection Agency begins its clean up.

With the long awaited cleanup of the Newtown Creek finally scheduled to begin this fall, the public was invited to learn more about the project at two EPA information sessions held at LaGuardia Community College on October 27.
Local residents and LaGuardia faculty and staff spoke to EPA representatives and perused posters that graphically laid out the first-year activities of the 17- to 22-year-long project that is expected to cost up to $1 billion.