In the University Religious Center’s courtyard, the smell of incense filled the air while students pull up weeds from the gardens. With gardening, yoga classes, seminars, summits and more USC celebrated its sixth annual Green Week.

Green Week has taken place every fall since 2021 to raise awareness about sustainability initiatives on campus through activities and learning opportunities. This year, the University hosted 16 events in the span of five days.

Green Week kicked off with “Mend-It Monday,” an event aimed at helping and teaching students how to fix, hem, stitch or embellish their clothes with all the necessary materials provided.

Ellis Fertig, a junior majoring in civil engineering, said this is her third year hosting the event after she created it her freshman year. She said it first started as a place where people could use free sewing supplies, and it eventually became an educational event.

Fertig said “Mend-It Monday” was divided into two blocks, the first being a mending workshop and the second offered drop-ins for people to bring in their clothes and be taught one-on-one by volunteers on how to mend them.

Despite being a part of Green Week programming, “Mend-It Mondays” are held regularly every three weeks, Fertig said.

“The goal [is] to reduce the waste that people have; everything that we fix is clothing that is diverted from a landfill,” Fertig said. “By teaching people, this embeds a culture and mindset of sustainability where instead of thinking, ‘My shirt is ripped, now I have to throw it out and buy a whole new one,’ you can think, ‘OK, how can I fix this?’”

Fertig said that “Mend-It Monday” is similar to another Green Week event, “Tune-Up ‘Tuesday’” where students can bring in bicycles or skateboards and have them repaired for free. Both initiatives are devoted to preserving the lifetime of items.

“A girl [came] in and she was like, ‘This is my favorite shirt, and it’s been ripping, and … I’m gonna throw it out.’ It probably took 30 minutes to mend, and it was super simple and straightforward,” Fertig said. “[It’s] been really gratifying to help expand the life of people’s clothes.”

“Tend the Gardens, Tend the Self” was held on Tuesday and was hosted by Robin Mitchell Stroud, director of Student Engagement Programs at the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Mitchell Stroud said the event serves as both a mindfulness practice as well as a way to slow down, get one’s hands in the dirt and connect with other people.

“Today we’re weeding. The way you would make that a mindfulness practice … is [thinking] about ‘thought weeds’ which are limiting beliefs about ourselves that pop up from time to time,” Mitchell Stroud said. “I just imagine that I’m pulling up ‘thought weeds’ and putting them in the little green pile for recycling. … I’ve been doing that particular practice so long that when a ‘thought weed’ pops up, I will say, ‘Oh, there you are, old friend, but now you have to go.’”

Also on Tuesday, Allison Agsten, director of the Center for Climate Journalism and Communication, held a discussion about biodiversity communication with her pet lizard, Pete Davidson.

Agsten said biodiversity isn’t often discussed as much in the climate conversation as pollution. She said she wants to create more awareness about the effects of biodiversity loss, and emphasize the “serious consequences” for the environment when one animal or plant is removed from the food web.

On Wednesday, USC Surplus Sales hosted a pop-up at McCarthy Quad. Gretchen D’Auria, special project manager at Surplus Sales, said how buying previously used items instead of something new helps save more waste from the landfill.

The last day of Green Week is “Volunteer Day” on Friday at the new USC Peace Garden. Camille Dieterle, teaching associate professor of clinical occupational therapy, said that every day the garden is open is a day students can volunteer.

Dieterle said the goal of the Peace Garden is for people to connect with nature in their daily lives in an urban environment where they can relax, engage in leisure activities and learn about sustainability.

“The thing that I find really exciting about the Peace Garden is it’s really just about having an experience that makes you feel good,” Dieterle said. “I just want that to be a part of the conversation of Green Week, that sustainability includes connecting with nature in our local environment.”