One of the best things about living in Las Vegas is beautiful Red Rock Canyon right in our backyard. This past weekend, some of us LEAFers went on a hike and cleaned up the trail along the way. The weather was perfect, the trail was empty, and we couldn't have asked for better company. One of our LEAFers, Amelia, even brought her two pups along for the day. We went back as far as we could before the trail got a little questionable, found our way down to the creek running partially alongside the trail, and enjoyed ourselves a nice little snack!
Although this event may not be what you consider environmental stewardship, it still provided some important lessons about how to be more environmentally aware. Spending your time outdoors is much better for the environment by reducing the amount of electricity we use and carbon emissions we produce. We also learned how to respect the outdoors by cleaning up after our dogs, not spitting our seeds or shells onto the ground, and not to pick anything up that is native to the area. Oh, and cigarettes are not biodegradable, (contrary to what some people may think!). All these things will help protect the beautiful outdoors. We were able to provide a small service to the land by picking up any waste we found along the way. Surprisingly, there wasn't much! But, we still accumulated a small amount of cigarette butts and pistachios shells.
L.E.A.F.'s next event will be hosted at Zappos, specifically for our Zappos employees, on April 17. It will be Zappos' first ever Earth Day event! We have partnered with KEEN in the past to observe Earth Day, but we have never celebrated it on campus before and we are super excited for it! Our main goal for Earth Day is to help spread environmental awareness at Zappos through demonstrations by local and non-local vendors who actively support eco-friendly behavior. If we could change the daily behaviors of just one of our employees by showing them how to recycle properly, helping them choose sustainable food choices, or telling them where to buy eco-friendly products, the event will be a success!
L.E.A.F. is planning to participate in a few other events in the upcoming months, such as: Plant a Tree for Arbor Day on April 27 at UNLV and the Solar Festival on June 21 at the Henderson Events Plaza. While these aren't L.E.A.F. sponsored events, we know how important it is for us to support our community along their sustainable paths!
Stay tuned for additional events and check out the L.E.A.F. Facebook page!
