Earth Day began as a day of dissent and has evolved into a day of celebration, Richmond Community College President Dr. Sharon Morrissey told people in attendance at RCC’s Earth Day event.

“It was first held in 1969 to protest what was happening to the environment, and (founder Gaylord Nelson) had the idea to call it Earth Day,” she said. “Twenty-six million demonstrators showed up throughout the world in the streets, schools and universities.”

She went on to explain that since then, the United Nations and most of the developed countries around the globe have embraced the event and turned it into a day of celebration.

In honor of Earth Day 2009, RCC held a symposium featuring senior college officials and representatives from Progress Energy to raise awareness about the plight of the pastoral world, and the principles of sustainability.

“I recently met with members of our staff to discuss the North Carolina Community College’s Code Green Initiative, and we decided to look at two ways to incorporate sustainability into RCC,” Morrissey said. “First of all, in-house to make sure that we are operating a facility that is as sustainable as possible. We also decided to look at integrating the concepts of sustainability across our curriculum, and institute new technologies for renewable energy sources as they emerge.”

Progress Energy Director of Communications for Central North Carolina Andy Honeycutt offered the perspective of electric utilities on “green energy.”

“What we are trying to find is a solution that balances the cost of energy to you, the impact to the environment and making sure there are reliable energy sources,” he said.

Honeycutt posed the question, why would an electric utility want to decrease demand for electricity?

“It’s a matter of cost to us ... If we flatten the demand during peak time production, we don’t have to operate costly peak-production plants that burn natural gas and other fuels,” he said.

At the end of his presentation, Honeycutt discussed CFL light bulbs, which save energy consumption, and the N.C. GreenPower initiative to lower demand and develop renewable energy sources.

“I was aware of Earth Day, but I think this increased my awareness of what it is, and made me realize that my generation is really the one that needs to take action,” Richmond County Early College 10th-grader Zach Stanford said.

Sophomore Jeremy Butler, the student body president of the early college, was unaware of Progress Energy’s “green energy” projects.

“I had no idea the electric companies were doing anything,” he said. “I kind of questioned electric cars before, but now I see them riding down the road, and I see there are alternative sources of energy.”

RCC student Laura Porter expressed her satisfaction in knowing that the school is taking the initiative to “go green.” She said this was her first Earth Day celebration.

“It’ll help us save money, and make the world a better place,” Early College student Erica Nichols said. “We’ll be able to continue living the way we are longer.”

“This has helped me realize that everybody can make a difference,” Early College student Shaniqua McCain said. “You can have an effect just with the light bulbs you use.”