The Blue-White festivities won't be the only celebrations seen on campus this weekend.

Organizations across Penn State campus are coming together to celebrate Earth Day -- which Penn State is celebrating this Saturday -- by sponsoring environmentally centered events, said Genevieve Caron, vice president and Earth Day coordinator of Eco-Action. Earth Day will be celebrated globally on Sunday.

"The Blue-White game is setting the standard for the festivities on campus, and it is kind of an opportunity to celebrate spring with environmental concerns and Blue-White game during the same day," Paul Ruskin, Office of Physical Plant (OPP) spokesman, said.

The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) has partnered with OPP to establish a tree-planting initiative to give student organizations the opportunity to sponsor a tree by donating $150, Ruskin said. The donation includes the cost of the tree, a plaque that will contain the name of the contributing organization and will be placed on the tree, and the cost of labor to plant the tree, Ruskin said.

To participate, organizations can apply online at the UPUA Web site, or pick up an application from the UPUA office or the HUB-Robeson Center information desk.

"The funds from the [tree-planting initiative] are going to sponsor Earth Day activities," John Keefe, UPUA public relations chairman, said. "We're hoping to contribute around $1,000 to help defer the costs [of Earth Day's activities]."

From noon to 8 p.m. Saturday on the HUB lawn, participating environmental organizations, including Eco-Action, the Center for Sustainability (CFS) and OPP, will have information tables set up to familiarize visitors with current environmental issues and to inform people of ways they can contribute to improving the environment.

To provide entertainment throughout the day, Eco-Action, a student-run club that works to make campus more environmentally friendly, has booked four bands to play on the HUB lawn, Caron said. The scheduled acts include Cloverleaf, Mark Silver, Lasting Factor, The Minor White and The Man, she said.

"We wanted to create a big event, get people to come, and [attract fans of the bands] and have people learn about [environmental] things and have an opinion on it," Caron said.

Students can volunteer to clean up the duck pond near the university's Wastewater Treatment Plant during the OPP and Clearwater Conservancy Watershed Cleanup, Ruskin said.

"[The duck pond] is a nice area, so every year we like to clean it up," Ruskin said.

OPP will send cards containing flower seeds to students living in residence halls today to encourage students to plant the seeds on the edge of the HUB lawn, along the sidewalk outside of the HUB's first-floor entrance.

A new event added to Earth Day's repertoire this year is the Penn State Green Tour, a bus tour sponsored by CATA, CFS and OPP, said Laura Silver, director of outreach for CFS. Tours will be offered three times throughout the day and will include stops at the CFS research site, Penn State's composting facility, on-campus buildings with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Designs certification and Penn State's hydrogen fueling station, she said. The tours are free of charge, but participants must pre-register at www.engr.psu.edu/cfs/.

The large number of activities planned for Earth Day this year has prompted the sponsoring organizations to schedule activities during the week prior to Earth Day, referring to the extension as Earth Week.

"Earth Day is becoming widely supported by the campus, so I think there's a tremendous amount of interest in Earth Day," Ruskin said.

Having attended the very first Earth Day in 1970, Ruskin said he feels the goals of Earth Day at Penn State have remained the same since its first celebration.

"The original Earth Day I think had the same goals of awareness as we had today," Ruskin said. "The difference is that in 1970 it was mainly a student and faculty activism day, but now it celebrates the many Penn State green initiatives.s"