OXFORD, Miss. – A series of luncheon programs to encourage awareness of and interest in environmental concerns begins Monday (March 31) at the University of Mississippi.
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture has planned five presentations in its Southern Studies Brown Bag Lunch and Lectures focused on the environment to run each Monday through April 28. The free, public events – or Green Series – are scheduled at noon in the Tupelo Room of Barnard Observatory.
The programs are an attempt “to bring together those with environmental concerns about their community; to encourage interest for others who may be complacent about their environment to pay attention to the toll being taken by rampant development and the need for more responsible means of transportation around campus,” said Mary Hartwell Howorth, CSSC operations assistant.
Greg Johnson, blues curator and assistant professor in the J.D. Williams Library, kicks off the series with a screening of the film “Kilowatt Ours?” by Jeff Barrie.
“The film focuses on energy consumption and efficiency in the southeastern U.S, which makes it highly relevant for Mississippians,” said Johnson, a member of the Ole Miss chapter of Roots and Shoots environmental group.
Johnson said Mississippians can take small steps to reduce their energy consumption and improve energy efficiency. “I’d just like to leave the world a better place than I found it,” he said. “I don’t want future generations to look back at ours with disgust, knowing that we saw the handwriting on the wall and failed to act in a timely manner.”
Matt Zuefle, assistant professor of park and recreation management, follows on April 7 with a lecture and accompanying slide presentation titled “Speak to the Earth, and It Will Teach Thee: Nature, Ethics and Spirituality in the South.”
“I will be discussing environmental ethics in general, as well as several studies in which I looked at religion and spirituality as influences on environmental attitudes,” Zuefle said. “I hope the lecture and accompanying slides will be fun to attend for anyone interested in the natural environment – as well as informative.”
Other programs in the Green Series are as follows:
- April 14: “Developing an Environmental Studies Curriculum” by Jay Watson, professor of English, and Ann Fisher-Wirth, professor of English.
- April 21: “Recycling on the University of Mississippi Campus” by Lyle Gravett, guest presenter, member of Roots & Shoots; Scott Steen, assistant director of the UM Physical Plant; and Amberlyn Liles, guest presenter, recycling coordinator for city of Oxford.
- April 28: “Green Sanctuaries” by Charlene Dye, guest presenter, member of the United Unitarian Universalist society; Gail Stratton, instructor in biology; and Susie Pedigo, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
Many members of the Ole Miss community have voiced the need for a lecture series to address environmental concerns, Howorth said. Plans call for similar programs for the fall semester.
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