DU’s Sustainability Council will be hosting the Earth Day Summit on April 20 as part of a series of events this month in honor of Earth Month, according to sophomore Jess Morton, a student voting member of the council and member of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle committee.

Morton said the Earth Day Summit is “the biggest and most important event” of the year for the Sustainability Council. She said the summit will be expanding this year to host two keynote speakers: John Fielder, a Colorado landscape photographer who has documented pictures of Colorado and its changes for 40 years, and Auden Schendler, author of “Getting Green Done” and vice president of sustainability for the Aspen Skiing Company. The summit will also serve a local and organic breakfast and lunch.

“The Summit is the pinnacle of the month and requires the most organization,” said Morton.

The sustainability council, which consists of approximately 30 faculty members, graduate students and undergraduates, aims to advise the university administration and monitor DU’s progress towards becoming a more sustainable campus.

“There are a lot of sustainability events happening on campus all month,” said vice chair of the Sustainability Council Christy Cerrone.

According to Morton, the committee hopes the Earth Month events, such as the installation of motion sensor lights in Halls last month; a “potting day” where students can plant a seed in a pot for their rooms; and a showing of a film about sustainable food called “Fresh,” will help raise awareness on campus and motivate students to care more about sustainability.

“Through this month’s events, we’re hoping to inspire students who are not actively involved in environmental clubs on campus to conserve resources,” she said.

According to Fred Cheever, committee chair and professor at the Sturm College of Law, the committee has already created a lot of change on campus since it began in 2007.

Cheever said the committee’s goal is to honor the environment by helping to integrate sustainability into DU’s curriculum, monitor how much greenhouse gas the university emits and develop a plan to become climate neutral in the future.

“Some of [the Sustainability Committee’s] big overarching accomplishments include writing DU’s Sustainability Plan and Report, achieving a gold rating in the AASHE STARS rating system [an international system that rates college and university sustainability performance],  developing the sustainability minor on campus and working in partnership with several groups to expand the recycling and composting systems on campus,” said Cerrone.

The next Sustainability Council meeting is Thursday at 8:30 a.m. in Driscoll 1864.