This Sunday, April 22, is Earth Day. Why this one day to recognize environmental activism? What does one day dedicated to the Earth really mean? It has been 40 years since the modern environmental movement and the first Earth Day were launched.

Vassar College won this year’s Seven Sisters tennis tournament, which was held here at Mount Holyoke last weekend. The Brewers swept Smith and Bryn Mawr 5-0 on Saturday, April 14. On Sunday they downed Mount Holyoke 5-0 before hanging on to defeat Wellesley 3-2 in the final match of the tournament.

On Tuesday night the Lyons hosted rival Smith College in a NEWMAC women’s lacrosse showdown. It was a big game, promoted via chalked announcements around campus. For the Lyons, it was a chance to break a two game losing streak, and what better way to do that than by taking down your archrival in front of your home crowd?

Last Saturday the Mount Holyoke Equestrian team hosted Zone Championships – a team competition between the four regional champions in Zone 1. The Lyons have been dominant this year, riding to eight High Point (first place overall) finishes, and on Saturday they added a ninth High Point honor.

The Baylor Bears are the new queens in the world of women’s Division I college basketball. The Lady Bears defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 80-61 on Tuesday night to win the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament.

Though it is still early in the season, the Lyons Lacrosse team has posted a perfect 2-0 record. The team defeated Westfield State University 15-12 in the season opener at home on March 7. The Lyons followed this up with a thrilling 15-14 victory over Roger Williams University last Saturday, March 10.

Alas, baseball season has come once again. March marks the official start of spring training. For most teams, this stretch of team workouts and exhibition games represents a chance to put the frustrations of the past season behind and start anew. For the Boston Red Sox, this fresh start could not have come soon enough. After a devastating September collapse and a rocky offseason that featured numerous player and staff departures, the team entered spring training with a clean slate, not to mention a new stadium. While still based in Ft. Myers, FL, the Red Sox official spring training facility has moved from City of Palm Park to JetBlue Park.

Favorite meet so far this season?

The last meet I ran in, which was at Smith. I ran a PR (personal record) in the 5K so that was really exciting. And our team scored more points than we had in any previous meet.

The Mount Holyoke Basketball team closed out their regular season with a bang, beating NEWMAC foe Wheaton College at home last Saturday. It was the team’s third straight win and fourth in their last five contests. While Wheaton prevailed in a matchup earlier in the season, Mount Holyoke refused to let their opponents spoil Senior Day and exploded for nine points in the waning minutes to come out on top with a final score of 66-62.

Something is stirring in society – from Occupy Wall Street movement to the Keystone XL pipeline protests people are uniting and speaking out against corporate greed and environmental injustice. At a time when America’s political system is more polarized than ever before and big corporations exercise more power and influence in our government than ever, grassroots activism may be our best hope for achieving meaningful progress in achieving environmental and social welfare.