Earth Day was celebrated on the campuses of the Lone Star College System by students who were not born yet when the first celebration April 22, 1970, drew 20 million people from across America to raise awareness of environmental issues. Today, Earth Day has evolved into a world-wide campaign to call attention to the need to protect Mother Earth.
Lone Star College-CyFair celebrated throughout the week with an Earth Day poster contest, nature walks, a film series presentation, and a presentation on the Katy Prairie Conservatory. The highlight of the celebrations came on Earth Day itself when Bruce McCarl, Ph.D., Regents Professor of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University, addressed the issue of the climate control squeeze and Texas.
“Texas is vulnerable,” said McCarl because the current climate changes are disruptive of some activities. For example, he said, “Projections on water, temperature, severe weather and hurricanes are worrisome for agriculture and other sectors.”
He noted projections predict, among other things, that “heat waves will be more intense, more frequent and longer lasting.” McCarl also said, there likely will be an “increase in hurricane peak wind intensities—an increase in the numbers of the most intense.”
McCarl added that mitigating emissions will influence electricity generation and petroleum industries, which comprise a large industry in the state. And our options are few: “Wait for more information –do little and live with it; make plans to adapt; try to reduce future change in mitigating emissions.”
Lone Star College-Kingwood celebrated Earth Day with educational displays, games, music, free food and student giveaways. The event was a Service Learning partnership between the student activities office and students in the Honors biology course, under the guidance of biology professor Betsy Morgan.
John Turner, program manager of the student activities office, said that the Honor students created displays and encouraged classmates to visit each display and answer brief questions. “The goal was to generate awareness of recycling and to further efforts to become a ‘green’ campus.”
“Now that the event is over,” Turner said, “an evaluation and reflection session will allow the students to discuss the event and its impact on the campus.”
Lone Star College-Montgomery continued its year-round activities of recycling, replanting and rejoicing in the outdoors. In addition to propagating trees and flowers, the students “play Frisbee and other games outside that are fun and free,” said psychology professor Michael Devoley, faculty adviser to the Montgomery College Environmentally Conscious Organization of Students (MOCO ECOS).
“We started the recycling efforts in the fall and have about 21 clear bag, blue plastic bins around campus,” Devoley said, adding, “We recycle about 1,000 bottles a week!”
Lone Star College-North Harris sponsored an Earth Fair, complete with eco friendly consumer information, and hosted two gatherings to discuss current and critical issues.
The first focused on the proposed toxic injection wells in Montgomery County. The second focused on a new program for Latino students creating connections between Latino communities, natural resources and public lands. The program originated at Stephen F. Austin University in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service and Texas Forest Service.
In addition to showing films and displaying earth friendly posters, Lone Star College-Tomball’s biology club celebrated Earth Day with a butterfly release in the college’s butterfly garden. And they planted a tree in the wetland adjacent to the campus.
While Earth Day is a national awareness event, the participants at the Lone Star College System agreed that, essentially, every day must be Earth Day. The move toward making the campuses eco friendly continues.
Lone Star College System consists of five colleges, including CyFair, Kingwood, Montgomery, North Harris, and Tomball, six centers and Lone Star College-University Center. With more than 49,200 students in credit classes last fall, LSCS is the third largest community college system in Texas. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.
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