The Earth Days Planning Committee offered a full slate of events for Earth Days 2015 at LVC — starting with the Oratorical Contest on March 17 and continuing in a series of activities and events, including installation art and a spirited public debate on "The Fracking Revolution:  Good or Bad for Pennsylvania?" on April 22:  Earth Day!  

 

March 17, 6:00 PM—8 PM.  Sustainability Oratorical Contest.

Bishop Library Atrium

This year's winner of the Oratorical Contest and the first prize of an iPad Mini was Victoria Gluszko (Philosophy, '16, at left) for her excellent speech critiquing the inherent anthropocentrism of contemporary discourse concerning issues of "sustainability".  Her expertly delivered speech was in response to the following question and theme: 

  “What do you see as the most pressing environmental sustainability issue(s) today?  Why?  What are the best ways to address this issue, in your view?” 

 

April 13—24.  Sustainable Living Weeks.

Where you live your life. 

Students are invited to participate in two weeks of Sustainable Living to help raise awareness of the types of sustainable initiatives they can incorporate into their daily lives and become more cognizant of their impact on the environment.  Students are invited to sign up on Redbook and will receive a list of suggested sustainable acts to complete throughout the two weeks.  Examples of sustainable acts include limiting shower time, utilizing reusable water bottles, recyling, attending Earth Day activities, participating in the Quittie Clean Up project. 

 

April 13—24.  Sustainability Teach-Ins.

Classrooms across campus.

Professors at LVC teaching on topics relating to issues of sustainability during these two weeks will open their classrooms to the entire LVC community and the general public.  List of participating classes forthcoming. 

 

April 22.   Live Lebanon Sustainably Symposium.

To Be Determined.

Sponsored by LVC’s freshly-minted Center for Municipal & Corporate Sustainability (CMACS), the Live Lebanon Sustainably Symposium has been postponed until October.  The Symposium will bring together public officials, business owners, community leaders, and others to offer a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas about current challenges and opportunities relating to municipal and corporate sustainability.

 

April 22, 11:00—1:00 PM. Metz Sustainable Lunch Hour.

Hallways in front of the Dining Hall, Mund Student Center.

Metz is inviting its vendors to participate and bring information concerning sustainable operations in their businesses and to showcase products supportive of their operations.  Metz will also be spotlighting the partnership with LVC and its ongoing efforts to bring more products to students' dining experience.

 

April 22, 1:30 PM.  Ceremonial Tree Planting.  (Changed from 2:45 PM)

Front of Humanities Building facing North College Ave.

Ceremonial planting of a disease-resistant American Elm in front of the Administration/Humanities building where the large Silver Maple was removed in late 2014.

 

April 22, 5:00 PM.  Public Debate:  “The Fracking Revolution: Good or Bad for Pennsylvania?”

Zimmerman Recital Hall, Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery.

This spirited, free-wheeling, and well-attended public debate pitted Kevin V. Lynn, Communications Division of Linde Corporation (“At the forefront of the Marcellus Gas Industry”) against sociologist, anti-fracking activist, and organic farmer J. Stephen Cleghorn, Ph.D., of Paradise Gardens and Farm in Reynoldsville PA.  A 94-minute YouTube video of this debate and the Q&A that followed can be found by searching "Fracking Revolution Pennsylvania" on YouTube.

One of the principal themes to emerge from this debate centered on the need to have reliable, reputable studies, based on scientific evidence, to adequately address the many issues relating to fracking.  In the days and weeks after the debate, Dr. Cleghorn sent a lengthy series of emails to Kevin Lynn containing synopses and links to a wide range of reputable studies and sources supporting his claims during the debate.  These issues include global climate change and the notion that natural gas offers a kind of "bridge fuel" to a more sustainable energy future; well casing failures and leakages; migration of fracking fluids into drinking water; public subsidies to the oil & gas industry; alternative energies; and a host of others. 

 

Week of April 20.   Islands of Plastic Installation Art.

Atrium, Lynch Hall.

Students in Karen Beall’s Sculpture 1 class undertook a collaborative art project made of plastic water bottles stapled together into swirling waves of translucent forms. The large-scale sculptural installation, created over multiple weeks, graced the atrium of Lynch Hall for several months after its April 22nd (Earth Day) installation. 

 

Week of April 20.  Tears of Cuewe-Pehelle Installation Art.

Carmean Plaza (Cuewe-Pehelle Sculpture Garden outside Bishop Library).

Delicate strings of plastic trash bits plucked from nearby Quittie Creek dangling from one outstretched hand of our beloved Green Maiden statue, a globe hanging from the other, offer social & political commentary on the contemporary state of Quittapahilla Creek and Planet Earth.  Installed by the Quittapahilla Creek Garbage Museum.  

 

April 25, 9:00 AM—2:00 PM.   Plastic Artifact Hunt, Quittapahilla Creek Garbage Museum.

Quittapahilla Creek in the 0-100 block of West Cumberland Street, Lebanon.

Volunteers will gather at 9:00 AM in the parking lot of Yogeys Putt’n Cream Miniature Golf, 10 S 22nd St, Lebanon, PA 17042 (off W. Cumberland St.) to clean trash out of Quittie Creek and its banks and add to the collection of plastic artifacts on display in the Quittapahilla Creek Garbage Museum, 8 East High St., Annville.