Earth Week 2015 marked at UW-Stevens Point
4/13/2015
 

Enjoy many free educational and entertaining environmental events as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point marks Earth Week April 18-25. 

The community is invited to attend any activities, said Dave Barbier, UW-Stevens Point sustainability coordinator. “From making crayons with soil to connecting with your natural environment at Schmeeckle Reserve to understanding more about managing finite resources effectively, this week will engage and enlighten.” 

On Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., take part in an interactive study of the Moses Creek Wetland. Participants will meet at the north end of the Moses Creek Wetland on Wood Lane off North Point Drive. That afternoon, Schmeeckle Reserve will host “The Power of Nature,” a walking program about naturalists and journaling, from 1-2 p.m. at the Visitors Center, 2419 North Point Drive, Stevens Point.

Two workshops will be held at Schmeeckle Reserve Visitor Center Sunday, April 19. The UW-Stevens Point Fire Crew will offer “The Importance of Fire to Native Ecosystems” from 10 a.m.-noon. The Society for Ecological Restoration and Ethnobiology will present “Creative Uses for Invasive Species” from noon-4 p.m. Participants will cut down invasive buckthorn and use it in a craft project. 

Screenings of eight episodes of the 2014 Emmy Award-winning documentary “Years of Living Dangerously” will begin Monday, April 20, at 8 and 9 a.m. at the Dreyfus University Center (DUC) Theater. Screenings of two episodes will be shown at 8 and 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of Earth Week. Coffee will be provided for those bringing their own mug. 

On Tuesday, students in a waste management class will learn how well recyclable materials are separated from trash during an audit of campus waste in the Sundial area beginning at noon. 

Nate Hagens will present “Turning 21 in the Anthropocene-An Invitation for Young People to Participate in the Future” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, at the DUC Theater. Anthropocene is current geological period during which human activities began to affect global climate and ecosystems. Hagens, has advanced degrees in finance and natural resources, is co-director of the Bottleneck Foundation and teaches at the University of Minnesota. 

Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, will feature the annual Eco Fair from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in the DUC Laird Room. With the theme “Bee Aware,” a variety of vendors will offer services and tips to be more sustainable. It is ssponsored by the student Environmental Educators and Naturalists Association. 

Several other activities will occur on Earth Day. Tours of the Waste Education Center will be held from 2-5 p.m. The “Stop Enbridge Tar Sands” tour will stop in Stevens Point from 6-9 p.m. Learn more about the effect of tar sands on communities and climate in TNR Room 170. Schmeeckle Reserve will host an Earth Day Frog Walk from 7:30-8:30 p.m., meeting at the Wood Lane entrance of the reserve.

The UW-Extension Wisconsin Lakes Partnership convention will be held at the Holiday Inn, Stevens Point, beginning at 8 a.m. on Thursday, April 23, and closing at 11 p.m. Saturday, April 25. It includes hands-on workshops, educational displays, research presentations, off-site tours and panels of experts in lake science. For more details or to register, go to www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/UWEXLakes/ . 

Also Thursday, a workshop on making crayons from soil is at 5 p.m. in TNR Room 255. At 7 p.m. a screening of “Wisconsin from the Air,” a Wisconsin Public Television film that highlights hundreds of Wisconsin landmarks from the sky, will be held in TNR Room 120. It will be followed by a Landscape Protection panel discussion.

 An Eco-Fair concert will be held from 7-11 p.m. Thursday in the DUC Encore Room. The bands Red Tide and Band Bill will perform.

On Friday, April 24, tree plantings and a tour of the campus garden will be offered from noon to 3 p.m. by Students for Sustainability. Meet at the rain garden outside of the Natural Resource Building at noon or come to the campus garden, adjacent to the UW Credit Union on Franklin Street, before 3 p.m.  

From 1-4 p.m. Friday, Chuck Marohn will present a Strong Towns workshop on building safe and sustainable roads around UW-Stevens Point for vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles. It will be in the College of Professional Studies Room 116.  Marohn is president of Strong Towns, an organization that promotes financial development for communities across the nation. 

Also on Friday, environmental advocate Marion Stoddart will talk following a film screening of the documentary “The Work of 1,000” at 3p.m. in the DUC Theater. The film tells the story of Stoddart’s work as a citizen leader to restore polluted waters in the Nashua River near her Massachusetts home and lobby for clean water laws. 

Several UW-Stevens Point student organizations joined UW Extension–Lakes to bring Stoddart, 87, to campus. She is the keynote speaker at the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Convention Saturday.

An Earth Week benefit concert and Save the Frogs Day celebration will be held Saturday, April 25, from 4-10 p.m. in the DUC Laird Room. Sarah Red-Laird, founder of the Bee Girl Organization in Oregon, will speak on bee conservation at 4 p.m., followed by a video presentation from Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, author and environmentalist. 

Live music starts at 6 p.m., beginning with Kyerokaya, the Hi-Matics at 7 p.m. and Prodo at 8 p.m. The event includes refreshments, games, face painting, a silent auction and merchandise for sale. It is free for high school and university students and $3 for non-students, with proceeds going to SAVE THE FROGS! International to support amphibian populations. 

Earth Day was founded on April 22, 1970, by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson as a peaceful teach-in to raise environmental awareness and protection. In 2014, the City of Stevens Point was the first in the Midwest to recognize Save the Frogs Day as a city holiday.


Article Tags

COLS; CNR; Vibrant; Healthy; Prosperous; Sustainable