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UWRF Earth Week Events Start April 21

By Jonathan Drankwalter
UWRF University Communications

APRIL 14, 2008--University of Wisconsin-River Falls students are coming together to help the community and to bring awareness about environmental issues during Earth Week, April 21-25.

With Earth Week quickly approaching, students from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Earth Consciousness Organization (ECO Club) have been working diligently to put together several campus events available to students and the community.

The ECO Club will kick off Earth Week by sponsoring the Earth Day Extravaganza on Monday, April 21. This event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Falcon's Nest within the University Center. The day will begin with a film showing of the "Seas of Grass."  

The Energy Contest and Recyclemania results and awards will follow the film showing, between 11 a.m. and noon. Sponsored by the Resident Living, Area Council, Student Senate, and the Eco Club, the Energy Contest is a contest between the residence halls to increase awareness about energy consumption and provides easy ways to reduce the amount of energy that students use.

In its second year, the event is split into three sections: electricity, water, and steam consumption. The winning residence hall in each category will receive a $250 reward.

Recyclemania is a nationwide contest with 400 other colleges and universities to create student awareness about the importance of waste reduction. UWRF is currently on pace to break last year's results in the Per Capita Classic for pounds per person.

From 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. April 21, there will be a demonstration of Bottle Biology, in which ECO Club members will show students how to make self-watering pots out of recycled bottles and plant them with seeds.

Rusty Callier, who is a manufacturing manager of Uponor North America, a supplier of radiant heat and cooling systems, will be the keynote speaker at the Earth Day Extravaganza April 21 with time to be announced.

Earth Day is officially observed on April 22, and to commemorate this day, the ECO Club is sponsoring a campus trash clean-up event. Students and community members are encouraged to meet in front of the University Center at 5 p.m. These volunteers will help clean up the campus, as well as along the South Fork of the Kinnickinnic River, in order to preserve its scenic beauty.

On April 23, the Eco Club will sponsor its 3rd annual "Drive to Not Drive" event from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the lawn in front of the University Center. The club encourages students, faculty and community members to leave their cars at home and take alternative modes of transportation during the day.  

Becky Alexander, a junior field biology major from Firth, Neb., and who is helping to coordinate the events, said, "It may be carpooling, taking public transportation, walking, biking, or anything else. It is an easy way to help reduce your environmental impact." The club is providing free breakfast, free bicycle tune-ups, free prizes and stickers, and environmental information.

On April 24, a Prairie Project will kick off at 3 p.m. Participants are invited to meet in front of the University Center to take part in re-seeding an area of land behind the University Center and the Wyman Education Building. The land will be either weeded or burned, depending on the weather, and then re-seeded to be turned into native grasses and forbs that have been donated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources seed farm in Baldwin.

On April 25, UWRF biology professor John Wheeler will lead a garlic mustard pull to get an early start on keeping a patch of garlic mustard, a non-native invasive species, non under control. Anyone interested in participating should meet in front of the University Center at 4 p.m.

Friday night the ECO Club will wrap up Earth Week events with a celebratory campfire at 7 p.m. at the university's amphitheater.

"It's our moral responsibility to ensure that our actions will fulfill and not jeopardize future needs," said Alexander. "Earth Week is a way for students to learn more about their impact on the environment and apply their knowledge in simple, eco-friendly way that will help reduce that impact."

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