Calvin Preps for Earth Week

April 9, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

SUMMARY: Calvin College will present a variety of events April 16-20 as part
of both Earth Week and a new initiative called Embrace Our Place.

Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/earth-week.htm

Two Calvin groups with an environmental focus, the student-led Environmental
Stewardship Coalition (ESC) and the Calvin Environmental Assessment Program
(CEAP), are sponsoring a series of events from April 16-20 in recognition of
Earth Week 2007. All the events are being held in conjunction with the Embrace
Our Place Festival, to be held April 16 through April 23 as a celebration of
the liberal arts in community.

One of the highlights of the week will take place on Thursday, April 19, from
3:30–5 pm, when the ESC will be installing a new rain garden on the Calvin
campus. The students, along with experts from the West Michigan Environmental
Action Council (WMEAC), will plant wetland plants such as swamp milkweed and
Bladdernut shrubs to absorb and filter campus drainage in a bowl-shaped area
between DeVries Hall and Spoelhof Center.

Other ESC events include free bicycle tune-ups for students, faculty and
staff, and an “Earthkeeping” information table at the on-campus coffee
shop.

The CEAP-sponsored events kick off on Friday, April 20 with the CEAP 10th
Anniversary Celebration, to be held from 3:30 through 5:30 pm at the Vincent
and Helen Bunker Interpretive Center. The center will display posters
highlighting 10 years of faculty research done under the auspices of CEAP,
which was founded in 1997 to involve students in studying the campus
environment. Chemistry professor Ken Piers will deliver a “State of the
Campus Report.”

From 1 p.m. to 3:30 pm on Saturday, April 21 the CEAP Field Day, also held at
the Bunker Center, will encourage visitors to visit a number of interactive
field stations to get educated about rain gardens, native plant gardens, wind
energy (at the newly erected campus wind turbine), pedal power for electricity,
tree identification and—by testing Ecosystem Preserve ponds—water
chemistry.

-end-
Received on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:20:58 -0400