This year UHD takes an innovative approach to Earth Month—through design!
Each April people around the globe celebrate “Earth Month” as a time to raise awareness about environmental and sustainability issues. UHD kicks off its own engaging Earth Month events this week, thanks to the UHD Sustainability Council, UHD’s Center for Urban Agriculture & Sustainability, and Associate Professor Natacha Poggio.
From 2:30-4 p.m. on Monday, April 6, Alicia Eggert, Associate Professor of Studio Art and the Sculpture Program Coordinator at the University of North Texas, will present her keynote “This Present Moment” at the College of Science and Technology as part of the Arts & Communication Festival. Well-known within the environmental art movement for her neon and steel sculpture, she draws inspiration from physics and philosophy. Her sculptures often co-opt the styles and structures of commercial signage to communicate messages that inspire reflection and wonder.
Houston-based artist Gleeson Ryan, a maker and “upcyclist” who works at the intersection of craft and sustainability, uses discarded materials to create objects and garments that examine the impact of resource production and consumption on the environment and human health. She’ll conduct the workshop “What Story Does Our Trash Tell” at 2:30 p.m. on April 7 in C100, Commerce Street Building. Participants are encouraged to bring paper ephemera that tells their personal story—such as bills, parking tickets, family photos, homework, and receipts. “What Story Does Our Trash Tell” is presented in partnership with the 2026 Arts & Communication Festival “Express,” the Center for Public Service and Community Research (CPS), and UHD Sustainability Council.
The President’s Lecture Series will celebrate Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22, with “Sustainability Transitions in the Anthropocene” at 11:30 a.m. in Fondren Commons, College of Sciences and Technology Building. Rice University anthropology professors Dominic Boyer and Cymene Howe (co-hosts of the podcast, Cultures of Energy) and designer, professor, and entrepreneur Nathan Shedroff will discuss cultural and systemic pathways toward more just and resilient futures. The panel will share their interdisciplinary perspectives where anthropology, storytelling, design, technology, and living systems meet.
And don’t miss Houston’s Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 25 at Discovery Green where Professor Poggio’s Graphic Design II students will have an art installation on display as a service-learning collaboration with Citizens Environmental Coalition.