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Dustin Luca
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SALEM, MASS. – With exhibits and events running throughout April, Earth Days 2025 at Salem State University will explore the threat climate change poses to not just ecosystems on Earth, but also the precious biodiversity that those fragile ecosystems protect.
Though Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year, the event is the subject of a month of programming at Salem State University that kicks off March 31 with a reuse-themed art exhibit in the Winfisky Gallery. The month follows a cohesive theme spotlighting the ways climate change reshapes ecosystems, alters species abundance and diversity, and disrupts the critical functions that organisms provide.
A week of free public events are planned from Monday, April 7 to Friday, April 11, offering lectures, celebrations and awards tied to Earth Day and its observances. Events include:
- Climate Change and Seaweeds, a session exploring how humans affect marine ecosystems, led by Professor Lindsay Green-Gavrielidis of Salem State’s Marine Ecology Lab;
- A Just Energy Transition in Salem and Salem’s Coalition Success Story, two talks bringing together several local influencers in the realm of environmental justice;
- Frontiers of Climate Resiliency, a talk exploring research projects on the forefront of climate resilience efforts; and
- Salem State’s annual Arbor Day Celebration and Earth Days Award Ceremony.
Embedded within the award ceremony are three contests for students. That includes a judged research poster competition, an art exhibition and competition, and a writing contest where students were tasked with writing a 500-word reflection essay directed toward a student starting college 50 years from now, in 2075. Submissions for the essay contest were due March 24.
“This year’s theme focusing on climate change and biodiversity is critical, because it spotlights a very significant connection that is too often overlooked in society,” said Tara Gallagher, assistant director of sustainability and environmental health and safety at Salem State. “Earth Days provides an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and community members to learn about these issues regardless of your area of study. These issues touch all of us.”
Opening the month is Trash Transformed: A Binational Perspective on Art and Sustainability, in the Ellison Campus Center’s Winfisky Gallery. The exhibit will be on display from Monday, March 31 to Friday, April 18.
A “Trash to Art” initiative, the project connects Salem State with Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, engaging students from both sides of the international relationship in repurposing discarded materials into meaningful artworks. Trash Transformed will also be the subject of an artist talk and reception in the gallery on Thursday, April 10 from 12:30-3 pm.
"In art, waste is more than just discarded material—it’s a reflection of the cycles of consumption, value, and transformation that shape contemporary life. What we consider trash is often a matter of context; once something loses its function, it’s labeled as waste, yet it still holds potential for meaning and reinvention,” said Francisco González Romo de Vivar, a professor at Tecnológico de Monterrey. “The project explores how discarded objects, when recontextualized, challenge hierarchies of value and reveal the deep connections between materials, culture, and the environment.”
Beginning Monday, April 7, a week of events fill out a packed schedule for Earth Days 2025. That includes A Just Energy Transition in Salem, MA, a moderated panel discussion headlined by members of Salem Alliance for the Environment, the City of Salem, and more. Scheduled for Wednesday, April 9, the event will spotlight and explore Salem’s growing role in ensuring that the state meets its climate goals.
Also scheduled for Wednesday is Cities at the Frontiers of Climate Resiliency, a presentation spotlighting two research projects at the forefront of climate resilience efforts.
The schedule will hit its peak on Thursday, April 10, with a day that opens with the university’s annual Arbor Day Celebration in front of the Sullivan Building on North Campus at 11 am. The day closes with the annual Earth Days Award Ceremony, where winners of the three contests will be crowned. Embedded within that is the creative writing contest, the winners of which will also read their works.
“The heart and soul of Earth Days is our winners of the creative writing contest reading their personal, heart-felt reflections,” Gallagher said. “Every year we’ve offered this contest, the results have been extremely moving.”
The ceremony will also honor the MGH Institute of Health Professions and its Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health with a Friend of the Earth award. Suellen Breakey ’86, director of the center, will accept the award and deliver brief remarks.
The final day – Friday, April 11 – will kick off with Climate Change and Seaweeds, a presentation exploring how climate change and its associated impacts, including warming sea surface temperatures, affect the distribution and abundance of seaweeds.
Most events will be held in the Ellison Campus Center’s Martin Luther King, Jr. room on North Campus. Please visit Salem State University’s Earth Days page for more information, and follow @Sustainable_SSU on Instagram for further updates.
