Sustainability club to host second installment of Fall Semester concert

Ian Doherty
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 01:08:29 +0000
Campus, buckeye blackout, featured, sustainability, sustainability ohio state

Buckeye Blackout’s fall concert, The Outdoors is Yours, is set to take place on the Wexner Center for the Arts plaza and feature music from Ohio State student bands. Credit: Lantern File Photo

Buckeye Blackout, a sustainability club with an emphasis on energy conservation, is hosting a free concert on campus Friday with hopes of raising awareness about sustainability.

At the concert, the club will give out reusable coffee mugs along with bookmarks, which will have sustainability facts inscribed on them. The concert will feature Ohio State student music groups and singers.

“This is like an open mic vibe. We’re hoping to appeal to folks who like more of the acoustic kind of scene,” said Clayton Perry, a fourth-year in applied economics and president of Buckeye Blackout.

The club was established in fall of 2013 by Perry, a fourth-year in applied economics, and current vice president Rachel Skwerer, a fourth-year in political science and Spanish.

Perry and Skwerer were sustainability representatives for their respective residence halls. Perry said he wanted Buckeye Blackout to bring the same level of attention to sustainability as BuckeyeThon brings to cancer.

“I didn’t really see a similar event for sustainability, which is a really big passion of mine. So the idea of Buckeye Blackout kind of came from the idea of that,” Perry said. “(We should) have a large visible presence for sustainability on campus.”

Perry said he wants to push students, faculty members and the community to be more sustainable.

We wanted to create an environment that could make sustainability less scary and more fun,” he said.

This is the second time the club is hosting the concert, known as The Outdoors is Yours, but Perry hopes it becomes the club’s signature Fall Semester event. The club hosts a similar concert in the spring, which is what solidified the idea to start a sustainability club for Perry and Skwerer in 2014.

Jeff Leopold, a second-year in architecture and the club’s co-marketing director, was drawn to the club because of its emphasis on concerts.

“I liked the music aspect of it, and then I found out they were environmentally sustainable and really wanted to change that at Ohio State,” Leopold said.

Perry said wants the club to move into other events, but believes starting in music is ideal.

“We want to move into all sorts of art,” he said. “(But) music is a synergistic realm to combine that message about sustainability.”

In between musicians setting up, members lead discussions about the campaign and why they think OSU should concentrate more on the conservation in their utilities.

The event will run from 5-8 p.m. at the Wexner Center for the Arts plaza.