The Center of Sustainability has paired up with the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority and City of Statesboro to host the 4th annual GreenFest on Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Held at the Bulloch County Courthouse Lawn and Downtown area, GreenFest is a sustainability celebration that invites Georgia Southern and the Statesboro community to become aware of sustainable resources, educate people on how to be green, and encourage people to take steps to creating a greener environment for all.

Lissa Leege, Ph.D., director of the Center for Sustainability, believes that GreenFest will give people a better understanding on how to take care of the earth.

“We only have one earth and we have limited resources. This is a chance to engage the broader community in understanding how these resources are critical to us and how we can conserve them for the future,” Leege said. “It is to show people that it’s not so hard. There are already so many sustainable resources. We are just trying to showcase what they are.”

During GreenFest, 40 vendors and 26 shops will display many sustainable resources and educate the community on alternative way to becoming green, as well as sell items made from upcycle products. Upcycling is the process in which objects are reused to create something of higher quality that what it originally was.

The event is set to bring back crowd favorites including Sustainable for Kids and the 2nd annual Pallet Challenge, where groups or individuals can upcycle used pallets and create something new and different. There will also be new additions to the event, including Greenstop shopping downtown and Bike to the Boro Blue Mile, where those who ride their bikes to GreenFest on the Blind Willie Mctell bike trail will be entered into a drawing for sustainable prizes.

During the event, GS President Jaimie Hebert and the chair of Blue Mile Committee and President/CEO of Sea Island Bank, Darron Burnette, will speak on how GreenFest is a great town partnership and on the importance of sustainability.

Courtney Beier, freshman pre-interior design major believes that Greenfest is a great way for the GS community to take control on how we take care of earth.

“I think that Greenfest is a great event for everyone to go to because it is teaching us how to be more responsible in taking care of planet Earth,” Beier said. “It’s important for us to learn about the different ways of being green and the many sustainable resources that are available to us.”

Beyond GreenFest, some students believe that there should be a better concern on how we treat planet Earth.

“We are part of this earth and we need to take care of it. We have caused a lot of damage to this earth and we need to start doing better by it,” Tanner Shurek, freshman computer science major, said.

GS students will be able to take a shuttle bus to GreenFest near the Russell Union parking lot. The shuttle bus will pick up students at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and will drop students off at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.