SWARTHMORE, Pa.—During the week of Earth Day 2021 Swarthmore's Garnet Go Green team will be running the first ever "Exercise for Earth and the Environment" event with the goal of raising enough money to plant 200 trees in Swarthmore's Crum Woods.

Leading up to the event, Swarthmore Garnet Go Green (G^3) will be collecting pledges for sponsoring the distances that student-athletes walk, bike, hike, run, and swim between April 18-22. The funds raised will go directly to purchasing and planting native trees and plants in the Crum and to supporting future G^3 initiatives. The actual planting of the trees will be scheduled for the fall of 2021.

Men's Soccer head coach Eric Wagner, the advisor to G^3, said, "In our efforts to educate the community about our sustainability efforts, reduce our consumption and impact on the environment, and connect our student-athletes with the ideals of sustainability in the Garnet Athletics program, we think the E^3 event is a major step forward. Each year G^3 works in small ways to reduce the environmental impact of Garnet Athletics on our community. We also take on one big project each year, and this year's project is the E^3 event. It is the brainchild of our Sustainability Advocate from 2019-20, Chris Mathew, and has been pushed forward this year by Karinna Papke and assistant men's basketball coach Shane Loeffler.  This should be a fantastic event for all of us here in the Garnet Athletics family."

The Exercise for Earth and the Environment event seeks to directly contribute to carbon sequestration, lend a hand in restoring the Crum Woods, and increase awareness of easy, personal contributions to environmental sustainability in the athletics community.

For junior student-athlete Karinna Papke, the Communications Director for G^3 and the Athletic Department's sustainability advocate, the Exercise for Earth & the Environment event is an exciting way to give back. "Sustainability is something that a lot of Swarthmore students really care about, and I am excited to help put on an event that gives people the chance to get outside and work together towards the common goal of planting trees and funding future sustainability efforts," she said. "During the pandemic, a lot of student athletes have not had the opportunity to compete in, or even practice, the sport they love. I hope this is an opportunity to provide a friendly competition between teams that will ultimately help restore the Crum Woods and continue moving Swarthmore Athletics towards a greener future."

For questions about the event, you can contact Karinna Papke at kpapke1@swarthmore.edu or Eric Wagner at ewagner1@swarthmore.edu.

To download a participant fundraising form, click here.

Follow the progress of the participants and track the amount of money raised by following the hashtag #E3GoGarnet on social media or by following @GarnetGoGreen on Instagram and Twitter.