The DU Environmental Team (DUET) and the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) co-sponsored a carnival to kick off Earth Month that drew about 400 students to Driscoll Green last Friday afternoon.

The carnival had live music from the student bands Sleeptalk, Seek, Silver String Theater and Mind Heist, sustainably-produced food grilled by D.U.G.S. (DU Grilling Society) and booths from more than 15 student organizations.

One of the aims of the carnival was for students to learn about the sustainability efforts of campus organizations, said senior Katie Soulliere, secretary of DUET and head organizer of the carnival.

“If you start on campus, being more sustainable, then you can be more sustainable on a larger scale,” said Soulliere.

One of the most popular activities at the carnival was Fender Blenders, said Soulliere, where students could ride two stationary bikes to create the electricity to blend their own smoothies.

The event was made carbon neutral by the purchase of Green-e Climate carbon credits from the company EarthEra.

The organizers also put in efforts to make the carnival as close to zero-waste as possible. There were three options for waste disposal at the event: compost, recycling and trash. D.U.G.S. served food on compostable plates, and the cups used to serve the Fender Blender smoothies were reusable.

Senior Julie Stetson, a geography major, thought the carnival had a good variety of booths to showcase different kinds of environmental efforts and sustainable practices.

“The carnival was an excellent way to spread awareness on a variety of sustainability issues in our daily lives,” said Stetson. “There are easy things that everyone can do to live more sustainable lives, we just have to become aware of the options that are out there.”

The carnival also had a free raffle, with prizes including two solar-chargers for electronics, gift cards to Illegal Pete’s, Watercourse Foods/City O’ City and Unity Clothing Company.

The Earth Month Carnival is the first of several events that DUET is hosting for Earth Month.

The group is co-sponsoring an environmental film festival that will feature three films throughout April, the first of which is 7 p.m. tomorrow in Lindsay Auditorium at Sturm Hall.  It will be a documentary called “Blue Gold,” about how future water scarcity will create an economy where power is based on control of water rights.