Whether you attend a documentary screening, listen to a lecture or spend time relaxing in the USC Peace Garden, there is no shortage of ways to feel inspired and more connected to nature during USC’s celebration of Earth Month in April. More than 60 events are planned across university campuses that support the planet and Assignment: Earth, USC’s sustainability framework for creating a healthy, just and thriving campus and world.

“Earth Month at USC raises awareness of environmental and related social issues in a remarkable variety of ways,” USC Chief Sustainability Officer Mick Dalrymple said. “We strongly encourage everyone to explore ways to participate and learn more about opportunities to make a positive impact.”

Here are a few of USC’s Earth Month highlights.

Tommy’s Closet drive

Tommy’s Closet is a signature Student Basic Needs event that encourages the USC community to donate lightly used threads to students who can make use of them. “We’re looking for donations from all genders to provide students with a variety of options that meet their needs,” said Devon Hernandez, interim director of Trojan Success Initiatives for USC Student Equity and Inclusion Programs. “Every item donated not only helps a fellow Trojan feel confident and prepared but also promotes sustainability by reducing waste and giving clothing a second life.”

• When: Tuesday, April 1, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Where: USC Sustainability Hub, Room 101 of the Gwynn Wilson Student Union building
• Learn more online

Climate Forward Conference

The Climate Forward conference brings together leading experts to discuss practical, nonpartisan solutions to some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time. Co-hosted by the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability and the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, this year’s event includes former U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), former U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), and Mike Murphy and David Hill of the EV Politics Project, a bipartisan effort to understand and overcome political divides on electric vehicles. “Regardless of our backgrounds, what we do for a living, our politics — we all live on the same planet, and we’re all affected by climate change,” said Joel Árvai, director of the Wrigley Institute and co-host of the event. “I look forward to Climate Forward every year because it’s about finding unity across those differences. We talk through common goals and how we can create a healthy, thriving world now and for the next generation. To me, that’s a very hopeful thing.” The conference is free to attend; registration is required. You can also follow the discussion on Zoom.

• When: Thursday, April 3, noon-4 p.m.
• Where: Town and Gown on the USC University Park Campus
• Learn more online

Arts & Climate Collective Festival

The festival, now in its fourth year, features student artwork and projects that connect the arts and storytelling with sustainability and environmental justice, as well as music and dance performances, workshops, free food and produce giveaways. More than 30 USC departments, student and community organizations are expected to participate in a resource fair. “I always feel so inspired after this event – seeing so many types of organizations and people coming together, all working towards a sustainable future in different ways – whether through art, policy, grassroots organizing, research, mutual aid, advocacy – there truly is a place for everyone in this movement,” said Hannah Findling, co-founder and co-leader of the Arts & Climate Collective. The collective was established to empower students to use storytelling and the arts as a way to address a broad range of sustainability-related issues. Since its inception in 2021, the collective has provided support to almost 80 student-led art projects. Admission is free; registration is requested.

• When: April 8, 1-4 p.m.
• Where: Founders Park on the University Park Campus
• Learn more online

A conversation with the 2025 Tyler Prize laureates

Argentine ecologist Sandra Díaz and Brazilian American anthropologist Eduardo Brondízio will discuss their Tyler Prize-winning research into the relationship between humans and nature in what promises to be a highly informative conversation. The Tyler Prize is administered by USC and is the longest running and most prestigious environmental award of its kind. This year’s recipients are the first individual recipients from South America to receive it. Díaz is renowned for her research into vascular plant functional traits, while Brondízio is a leading expert on human-environment interactions and social-environmental change in the Amazon. “The climatic crisis, the biodiversity crisis and the outrageous socioeconomic inequities in the world are all interrelated, all connected by the living fabric of the planet,” Díaz and Brondízio said in a joint statement. The event is free; registration is required.

• When: April 10, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Where: Michelson Hall on the University Park Campus
• Learn more online

Student Sustainability Town Hall with USC President Carol Folt

USC students can interact with some of the university’s leading sustainability experts at the fourth annual Student Sustainability Town Hall. USC President Carol Folt, who has made leadership in sustainability research, policymaking and practice one of her signature “moonshot” initiatives, will make the opening remarks. Other speakers include Mick Dalrymple, USC chief sustainability officer; Mahta Moghaddam, Distinguished Professor and co-chair of Folt’s Presidential Working Group on Sustainability; Monica Dean, climate and sustainability practice director for the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ Public Exchange; and Shannon Gibson, USC Dornsife professor (teaching) of environmental studies and political science and international relations. “This is a great opportunity for students to hear more about what USC is doing to become more sustainable and learn about how related issues will impact our work fields in the future,” said Jon-Marc Burgess, co-executive director of the USC Environmental Student Assembly, who is coordinating the event in partnership with the USC Student Sustainability Committee.

• When: April 16, 4-5.30 p.m.
• Where: Doheny Memorial Library, Room 240

Documentary premiere and discussion: Power in the Desert

Earth Day — April 22 — is the perfect day to join the premiere screening of Power in the Desert, a new documentary about the perils and pitfalls of extracting lithium from the Imperial Valley of California and the Atacama Desert of South America. The screening, hosted by the USC Dornsife Equity Research Institute and the University of California, Santa Cruz, Institute for Social Transformation, will be followed by a discussion with director/producer Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch and Manuel Pastor, director of the Equity Research Institute, and Chris Brenner, director of the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Social Transformation. Pastor and Brenner co-authored the recently published book Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future. The event is free; registration is required.

• When: April 22, 4-5:30 p.m.
• Where: Online
• Learn more online