EcoSono Concert in Great Hall Caps Off Day of Ecologically-inspired Festivities

SANTA FE, NM—The Santa Fe community is invited to a day of free ecologically-inspired events that include a lecture by eco-philosopher Sophie Strand, a hands-on demonstration of the only working armillary sphere in our hemisphere, a ribbon-cutting for the college’s new grid-tied solar array, and an evening concert by the EcoSono Ensemble, who create interactive eco-acoustic music with a collective of artists, musicians, activists, and scientists. St. John’s College returns to its roots with this revival of Earth Day, a tradition the college first celebrated in 1970 with a visit from Max Linn, the president of the John Muir Institute.

The full schedule of public events is below.

Schedule of Events

12 p.m.
Solar Ceremony
St. John’s College President Mark Roosevelt will cut the ribbon on the college’s new grid-tied solar array, which will allow the campus to operate off 100% solar energy. The presentation is at the solar array site, which is at the college’s entrance off Camino De Cruz Blanca.

1:30 p.m.
Armillary Sphere Demonstration
St. John’s is home to the modern world’s only functional Brahian-type sphere, used for hands-on observation of the heavens by historical scientific luminaries like Kepler, Copernicus and Newton. Make actual observations with St. John’s faculty emeritus Bill Donahue, winner of the 2022 LeRoy E. Doggett Prize for Historical Astronomy, an accolade presented every two years by the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society to “an individual who has significantly influenced the field through a career-long effort.” The sphere is located on the plaza of the college’s Meem Library.

1:30 p.m.
Film: Stewart Udall’s Politics of Beauty
This feature documentary examines the coming-of-age of the American environmental movement in the 1960s and ’70s, showcasing the victories and defeats with which Udall—whose storied family has long had ties to New Mexico and to St. John’s College—was intimately connected. Screening is in the Junior Common Room, which is on the second floor of the Pritzker Student Center (formerly Peterson Student Center).

3 p.m.
Lecture: “Myth and Mycelium” with Sophie Strand
Sophie Strand is a Hudson Valley-based writer who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling and ecology. Her first book of essays, The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine (2022) questions what it means to understand myths as the “fruiting body mushrooms” of underground vegetative mythic systems. The lecture is in the Great Hall in the Pritzker Student Center. The book is available in the college’s bookstore, also in the Pritzker Student Center (formerly Peterson Student Center).

6 p.m. EcoSono Ensemble: “Soundscapes of Hope”
Formed in 2012 for the premiere of the first climate change opera, EcoSono creates interactive music with a collective of artists, scientists and activists from around the globe. Led by Alaska-based, Emmy Award-winning composer and St. John’s alum Matthew Burtner (SF92), this concert spotlights music from EcoSono’s forthcoming album, Soundscapes of Restoration (Ravello Records/Parma/Naxos) including the single, “The Dreams of Seagrasses,” which will be released worldwide on Earth Day 2023. Location: Great Hall, Pritzker Student Center.

Access the full program at sjc.edu/earthday

Driving directions: sjc.edu/about/campuses/santa-fe