By Lookout Staff

November 2, 2015 -- What to eat and how best to get around are the focus of a weeklong series of events celebrating Sustainability Week at Santa Monica College, school officials announced.

The special events, which kick off on Monday, are free and open to the public and take place on the SMC main campus at 1900 Pico Boulevard.

“For over 20 years, Santa Monica College has been at the forefront of sustainability, challenging our campus and the community to do more to be the change we need,” said Ferris Kawar, SMC’s Director of Sustainability.

“Our students have taken the nationally recognized Campus Sustainability Day – historically held on the fourth Wednesday in October – and turned it into a week of events celebrating food, health, sustainable transportation, and farming”.

The lineup of events start Monday, November 2, with “Students Feeding Students,” a series of cooking demos, food preservation and seed bomb workshops offered by the student-run Club Grow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The event features organic produce donated from local farmer’s markets that will be distributed to students only. The events will take place at the Organic Learning Garden.

A Sustainable Food Festival hosted by CARE Club and Plastic Free SMC will take place Tuesday, November 3, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Main Campus Quad. Sustainability entrepreneur Robert Egger will address food justice issues during his keynote talk. 

Participants can “sample a variety of delicious and sustainable meal choices while learning about reducing (their) water usage and plastic consumption,” organizers said. Event partners include Heal The Bay, LA Waterkeeper, Hunger Action LA, LA Kitchen, Follow Your Heart, Garden, and Green Truck.

The topic will turn to “how new transportation options are changing” during “Sustainable Transportation Day” on Wednesday, November 4, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Quad. The event will explore alternatives to the car that include the new Expo light rail, scheduled to arrive in Santa Monica next year, bike share, bus and vanpools.

The event, which is hosted by the SMC Bike Club, will include repair and safety workshops. Participants are encouraged to bring their bikes.

Two events on Thursday, November 5, will address organic foods and farming, starting at 11:15 a.m. with a debate on sustainable foods titled, "Will organic foods fail to feed the world?" The event, hosted by Eco-Action, will be held at the Theatre Arts Building Main Stage.

From 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. there will be a screening of the documentary “Dirt” directed by Gene Rosow and Bill Benenson and narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis.

The 2009 film tells the story of “Earth's most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility, from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation,’ organizers said.

Hosted by Eco-Action, the screening will take place at Cayton Center. Complimentary pizza and popcorn will be served.

“SMC is one of the greenest campuses in the country, offering a number of innovative eco-focused degrees and certificates and recognized for its bike-friendly culture nationally,” college officials said.

Among its programs is “Any Line, Any Time,” which provides free transportation to all students, faculty and staff on Big Blue Bus lines.

The college also partners with the Center for Environmental and Urban Studies (CEUS) on campus to provide a “living laboratory” and “a hub for all the campus’s environmental activities,” officials said. The center features a recycling program for electronic waste and commercial worm composting.

For more information, visit www.smc.edu/sustainabilityweek or call 310-434-3911.