This Thursday, as a part of the Earth Week events, there were posters and slideshows in the Courtier Center, an environmental reading, as well as a presentation by an employee of the Boone County Landfill. The posters and slideshows were about various topics, from birdwatching in Iowa, erosion, monarch butterflies, red foxes, and the loss of prairie grass in Iowa. Students from several classes created the posters as a part of the Earth Week celebrations.
During the environmental readings, six students read poems by various authors that pertained to nature. Dennis Thompson also read two excerpts from a short story that he wrote about deer hunting in the woods. After the short story, another instructor read some excerpts from a book by David Foster that condensed some of Henry David Thoreau’s writings about the nature in the mid 1800’s in New England.
After the environmental readings, an employee of the Bone County Landfill, John Rosa, gave a talk about recycling and the changes that he thinks need to be made in order to keep us from running out of room for landfills. He brought up several points of change, but one was that he believes that the redemption price for cans needs to be increased. He said that the return has not changed from 5 cents since the 70’s, and many other states have increased their return to 15 cents. Rosa said this will help to encourage people to return their cans, which will help with recycling. He also handed out a sheet that lists the things that can be recycled in Boone County to help students understand what can be recycled and what should just be thrown away. Overall, he pointed out that recycling is important for our environment’s health.