Published: March 28, 2009 09:13 pm      

EKU to begin Earth Days celebration

Eastern Kentucky University will kick off a month long observance of Earth Days on Friday as trees are planted in the Ravine and a lament for lost mountaintops is chanted in Meditation Chapel.

About 60 events will take place in April, with multiple activities scheduled for some days. Practically every campus department will be involved in at least one event.

In addition to the opening events Friday, a symposium, poetry readings, a play, a trail hike, a bicycle ride and films are planned.

Dr. Hunter Hensley of the music department will chant “Requiem for the Mountains” on each Friday in April beginning at 12:05 p.m. in Meditation Chapel to mourn the devastation of the Kentucky landscape caused by strip mining, especially mountaintop removal.

At 1 p.m. this Friday, university students and employees will gather in the Ravine for the first of two two-hour tree-planting sessions. The second session begins at 3 p.m.

On April 6, a one-hour tour, beginning at 11:15 a.m. in the Wahlin Complex will highlight the campus energy conservation project being done by Siemens Building.

EKU’s annual Environmental Health Symposium will take place April 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in the Keen Johnson Building. Registration is $25 and includes lunch.

Pre-registration by April 1 is required by calling 622-6342.

A Thursday film series, April 9, 16, 23 and 30 at 6:30 p.m. in the Crabbe Library, will start with “An Inconvenient Truth” and go on to “Garbage: The Revolution Starts at Home,” “Who Killed the Electric Car?” and “Walden: The Ballad of Thoreau” by Kentucky folksinger Michael Johnathon.

A 30-minute bike ride around campus April 10, part of a world-wide effort, will start at the Powell Building at 1 p.m.

The Kentucky River Watershed Watch will conduct training for volunteer water samplers April 11, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Meadowbrook Farm off Irvine Road. The training is free, but registration is required by visiting krww.org or e-mailing alice.jones@eku.edu or joann@krww.org.

“Student Work on Developing a Regional Biofuels Industry,” will be presented by the agriculture department April 13 at 10:30 a.m. in the Crabbe Library.

Dr. Ron Eller, author and former director of the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center, will talk about his book, “Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945” at 3:30 p.m. April 15 in Crabbe Library. The book examines politics of development in Appalachia since World War II.

The Fresh Food Company, which serves meals in the Powell Building, will not be left out of Earth Days. During lunch and dinner hours April 20-24, the food service will present “Table for 6.8 Billion,” featured choices that promote sustainable and responsible systems of food production, processing, distribution and consumption.

A campus cleanup is scheduled for April 20, beginning 3 p.m. at Powell Corner.

A “Sustainability Fair” is planned for April 21, from 9 a.m. To 4 p.m., in the Powell Building, as clubs, groups and departments showcase their sustainability efforts.

A “Leave No Trace” workshop will run from 4 to 7 p.m. April 21, 4-7 p.m. in the Ravine.

A beehive building demonstration will take place at Powell Corner, April 22, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The demonstration is sponsored by Coal Country Beeworks, an EKU supported initiative to place bee colonies on reclaimed strip mines in eastern Kentucky to improve both economy and environment of the region.

A rain garden will be installed in the Ravine on April 24, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Volunteers should wear work clothes and gloves to help create a garden that will retard storm water runoff while restoring native plants.

Garden work days are scheduled for the Case Annex Courtyard on April 28 and 30 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

Earth Days will extend into May as a “Wonders of Wetlands Workshop” takes place May 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a location to be announced. The workshop is oriented to leaders interested in environmental education for the young. In addition to highlighting wetland issues, it will offer hands-on demonstrations, learning activities and ideas for community action and environmental education projects.

Pre-registration is required by April 25 by e-mailing: lauren_goode4@eku.edu.

Earth Day began in 1970 as part of a broader political movement to call attention to the severe threats to the nation’s – and world’s – air, water and land.

EKU’s month-long “Earth Days” celebration began in 2000 as a campus-wide celebration of eastern Kentucky, the diversity of human culture that has risen from the land and the challenges of sustaining the region’s social, economic and environmental communities.

For more details about Earth Days at EKU, visit: cres.eku.edu and click on the Earth Days 2009 link.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.