Events-- Spring 2011

ETSU Environmental Studies Minor

last update: April 5, 2011

January 3-7, 2011

East Tennessee State University

U.S. Forest Service Wildland Firefighter Training

To register contact: Dr. T. Jason Davis, Asst. Prof. of Kinesiology, Leisure, and Sport Science, 217E, Memorial Center (MiniDome), Phone: 439-5358; davistj@etsu.edu

Saturday, March 19, 2011, 8:30am-6pm

Appalachian Trail Maintenance outing

A group of ETSU students will work with the App State trail crew and the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club members to repair a portion of the Appalachian National Scenic trail. Contact Dr. Kevin O'Donnell for details, odonnell@etsu.edu

Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 7pm

Rogers-Stout 118

Jim Minick, author, to speak on sustainable farming

Minick is the author of The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family, Thomas Dunne Books, 2010. He is also the author of several volumes of poetry. He will speak on his experience running an organic blueberry farm in southwest Virginia. jim-minick.com. Contact: Dr. Kevin O'Donnell, odonnell@etsu.edu, 423 439-6679

Friday, March 25, 2011, 2pm

Culp Woods Appreciation Day--Spring Wildflower Walk

Parking Lot #13, at the Culp Woods Trailhead

ETSU is blessed with an approximately 30-acre, undisturbed tract of mixed mesophytic hardwood Appalachian forest, right on campus. Many students don't know about this wonderful natural area, which includes some amazing oak trees that are over 200 years old. At 2pm, Dr. Tim McDowell, ETSU Professor of Biology, will lead a Spring Wildflower Walk. Sponsored by ECO (Environmental Conservation Organization), ETSU's environmental student club. Contact Cheyenne Peavler or David McGuinn, eco.etsu@gmail.com.

Parking lot #13 is just south of the Sherrod library. Go under the concrete railroad bridge. The trailhead is just south of the railroad bridge, at the west end of the parking lot on the west side of Southwest Avenue.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 5-7:30pm

Johnson City Public Library

The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, Founder & President, Interfaith Power and Light

Sponsored by the Green Interfaith Network, Inc (GINI)

Rev. Bingham will speak on “A Religious Response to the Climate Crisis.” Named a “Climate Hero” by Grist Magazine , Sally has brought widespread attention tothe link between religious faith and the environment through her work on The Regeneration Project and the Interfaith Power and Light campaign. Sally serves as Canon for the Environment in the Episcopal Diocese of California and is the lead author of Love God Heal Earth, published by St. Lynn’s Press in 2009.

For more information contact: Carol Landis (9269618) OR Rev. Jacqueline Luck (6778710). The Green Interfaith Network, Inc. (GINI) is a not-for-profit organization focused on Earth stewardship and eco-justice, serving NE Tennessee and SW Virginia: www.greeninterfaith.org

Tuesday, April 4, 2011, 7pm

Culp Auditorium

"Scrappers," Documentary Film, 2009

Admission is free with a suggested donation of a canned food item.

Set in Chicago’s labyrinth of alleys, Scrappers is a portrait of Oscar and Otis, two metal scaven-gers who search for a living with brains, brawn and battered pickup trucks. The 2008 financial collapse and crackdowns on undocumented immigrants jeopardize their means of providing for their families. Shot in vérité style, the film focuses on work: finding metals; raising children; un-derstanding the city. The film questions popular notions of poverty, race relations, and recycling and examines dreams of personal self-sufficiency and urban sustainability.

Post-screening discussion and reception with Co-Directors/Co-Producers Brian Ashby and Ben Kolak.

Sponsored by ETSU's Mary B. Martin School for the Arts

Monday, April 11, 2011, 7pm

Ball Hall Auditorium

Lecture by Antrim Caskey, photojournalist and anti-mountaintop removal activist

There will also be a photo exhibit by Caskey in the Slocumb Gallery during the week of April 11-April 15.

Antrim Caskey is embedded with Climate Ground Zero, a global warming and mountaintop removal activist group. Her photographs have been widely published. Sponsored by ETSU's Womens' Studies and Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies programs. Contact Veronica Limeberry, zval3@goldmail.etsu.edu. Blurb: www.democracynow.org/appearances/antrim_caskey

Tuesday, April 19, 11am-2pm

Pedestrian Mall Area, North of the West end of the Culp Center, on the ETSU campus

Mountaintop Removal Awareness Day

ECO (Environmental Conservation Organization), ETSU's environmental student group, will host tables and displays to raise awareness about mountaintop removal mining in southern Appalachia. Contact David Mcguinn, president of ECO, at eco.etsu@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 20, 10am-2pm

Borchuck Plaza (in front of ETSU's Sherrod Library)

ETSU Earth Day Celebration

Earth Day is officially on April 22nd, but this year that day falls on Good Friday, an ETSU holiday. So the ETSU celebration will instead be on Wednesday, the 20th. There will be music, and dozens of tables staffed by representatives of local groups and businesses concerned with the environment. Coordinated by ECO (Environmental Conservation Organization), ETSU's environmental student group. Contact David Mcguinn, president of ECO, at eco.etsu@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 20, 6pm

ETSU Culp Center Ballroom

"Liquid Assets": Documentary Film Preview and Panel Discussion on Water Issues

The Department of Geosciences at East Tennessee State University is teaming with other local organizations to host a preview of a public television documentary, “Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure,” on Wednesday, April 20, at 6 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center ballroom. Following the 15-minute film preview, three local experts will participate in panel discussion on the region’s water system. Joining ETSU as sponsors of the event are the Holston Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Bristol Public Library, the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, the City of Johnson City and the City of Bristol (Tenn.).

Participating in the panel discussion will be Ingrid Luffman, ETSU lecturer of Geosciences; Dr. Brajesh Dubey, ETSU assistant professor of Environmental Health; and Tom Witherspoon, director of Water and Sewer Services for the City of Johnson City. For additional information, or to request special accommodations, contact Dr. Arpita Nandi, ETSU assistant professor of Geosciences, at (423) 439-6086 or nandi@etsu.edu.