| Love where you live on Earth Day |
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| Written by Krista Porterfield | |
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Why celebrate Earth Day? Well, in the words of Judy Thorpe, Vice President of the Phelps County Master Gardeners’ Club, “What could be more important than where we live?” As concerns over growing landfills and global warming mount, environmental awareness and taking care of the earth have become issues that are being pushed to the forefront. “Love Where You Live” was the theme for UMR’s sixth annual Earth Day Celebration on Tuesday, April 24. The celebration featured many exhibits and activities geared toward motivating kids and adults alike to take care of the earth. With the goal of informing students and adults on environmental awareness, representatives from over ten organizations – such as the National Weather Service, MoDOT and the Missouri Forestkeepers Network – set up informational booths and exhibits on the grounds outside of Havener. While many of the booths distributed pamphlets and brochures advocating everything from using cloth diapers and breastfeeding to recycling and not littering, some booths were also handing out free goodies. Marcia Mayo from the City of Rolla Recycling Center was giving away pencils made out of recycled money, and the Phelps County Master Gardeners were even giving out free tomato plants and flowers like pansies and petunias.  At the MoDOT exhibit, Shelly Cauldwell was promoting MoDOT’s “No More Trash” campaign. According to her informational poster, MoDOT spends five million dollars annually on litter clean up on the highways. She hoped to get across to people that littering is illegal and comes with a $1000 fine.“[Earth Day] is a good reminder for everyone,” said Cauldwell. “Someone has to take care of the litter; it doesn’t take care of itself.” However, UMR seems to be trying to do its part to take care of this problem; Cauldwell pointed out that there are 27 UMR fraternities, sororities and organizations that are a part of the Adopt-a-Highway program and keep their portions of highway litter free. Besides the various informational booths geared toward students and adults, there were a lot of Earth Day activities aimed towards the many grade school children who visited. Kids could play games, like “Parachute Around the World” and bean bag toss, or make a craft, such as a pet rock or pine cone/peanut butter birdseed bird feeder. There was even a special appearance by Smokey the Bear. The goal behind these Earth Day activities was to get kids excited about the earth and environment and teach them to take care of it. Cauldwell emphasized the importance of reaching out to the young ones on Earth Day. “Grade school kids are so impressionable,” said Cauldwell with a smile. Mayo also pointed out that informing kids about recycling, not littering, and taking care of the earth is sometimes the best way to reach adults as well. “Start with the young one and they take it home,” said Mayo. In addition to the exhibits and children’s activities, there was also live music throughout the day as well as the results from children’s poetry and art contests. Tables inside Havener displayed elementary school students’ sculptures and art projects made out of recycled garbage, including a Styrofoam egg carton die and a paint can snowman. Also on display were posters incorporating the theme “Love Where You Live” colored by kids. With groups of school children and college students milling around and the rain holding off until later in the afternoon, it appears that the sixth annual Earth Day celebration was a success. Hopefully, the many visitors – children, students, and adults alike – took something away from UMR’s Earth Day celebration and will start to take the steps towards building a cleaner, better world. “The environment has to be taken care of,” concluded Cauldwell. “It’s the only one we’ve got.” |
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