[398]EARTH DAY 2008: MTSU GOES GREENER

EARTH DAY 2008: MTSU GOES GREENER
Students for Environmental Action Slate 2-Day Awareness Event April 22-23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Carl Caum, SEA, 615-653-0887 or carl@cs.mtsu.edu

(MURFREESBORO)—MTSU's Students for Environmental Action will sponsor an Earth Day celebration on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22 and 23.
The festival will be held on campus on the knoll in front of the Keathley University Center from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day in an effort to bring the campus and community together in support of a common goal.
Earth Day events will kick off with a climate-commitment signing by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee shortly after noon April 22.
"The goal of the Campus Climate Commitment is to ensure MTSU's continued success in the fight against global warming and other environmental issues," said Carl Caum, an officer for SEA.
"It also guarantees the university will do everything reasonable to combat the problem by building more energy efficient buildings and purchasing more clean energy over time, with the goal to become carbon-neutral."
Activities on Tuesday will include an earth-friendly art show featuring artwork made of recycled materials, food from local vegetarian and vegan restaurants, live music from local bands and organic shopping made available by Origins Skincare and ThinkHappyStuff.com.
A "Green Dining" survey will be conducted on the Knoll to measure how many students are vegetarian/vegan, what they are looking for from campus dining and how concerned they are about how waste is handled.
A petition in support of the new Tennessee Bottle Bill will be available for students to sign. This bill would attach a redemption amount to almost all recyclable bottles, as well as call for reusable glass bottles.
SEA, Recycle Rutherford, the Murfreesboro Electric Department, People for a Better Tomorrow and MTSU Environmental Studies Department will have booths set up during the celebration.
Alternatively fueled vehicles will be displayed, including the Toyota Prius hybrid and concept hydrogen and electric cars. The city of Murfreesboro will have a bus from the Rover system there as well.
Also featured will be MTSU's waste-grease bus. The green fee paid with tuition was used to convert this bus to run on cooking grease from campus dining facilities.
The celebration will wrap up Wednesday at 6 p.m. with a presentation of the documentary "Kilowatt Ours" in the KUC Theater. A question-and-answer session with filmmaker Jeff Barrie will directly follow the documentary.
On Wednesday, SEA will hold a membership drive for any students interested in helping their cause.
"SEA's goal for this event is to raise awareness of environmental issues and show the significance of the problems we face," Caum said. "From air and water quality to water shortages to ocean acidification, they all present each and every one of us with a challenge to unite and solve them.
"We believe with proper education, the power of human reasoning and a little passion, we can do just that."
For more information about SEA's event plans, please visit the organization's Web site at www.mtsu.edu/~sea. In case of rain, events will move inside the KUC.

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IN BRIEF:

MTSU's Students for Environmental Action will sponsor an Earth Day celebration on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22 and 23. The festival will be held on campus on the knoll in front of the Keathley University Center from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day in an effort to bring the campus and community together in support of a common goal. Earth Day events will kick off with a climate-commitment signing by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee shortly after noon April 22. Activities will include an earth-friendly art show, food from local vegetarian and vegan restaurants, live music from local bands and organic shopping. SEA, Recycle Rutherford, the Murfreesboro Electric Department, People for a Better Tomorrow and MTSU Environmental Studies Department will have booths set up during the celebration. For more information about SEA's event plans, please visit the organization's Web site at www.mtsu.edu/~sea.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: This release was written by Claire Rogers, a junior majoring in advertising/public relations at MTSU. We request your use of her byline if you use the release in its entirety.

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