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CMC active for Earth Day in Summit County, Leadville

DAILY NEWS STAFF REPORT

Students and employees at Colorado Mountain College will be marking the week of Earth Day 2010 with a variety of learning and service events, including opportunities for the public to get involved.

Community members can attend documentary screenings and discussions, or participate in cleanup days at some campuses.

“The Earth Day week events at the campuses are another example of the college’s awareness of the need to not only teach about sustainability issues, but to practice them internally as well,” said Lynne Cassidy, the college’s part-time sustainability coordinator.



Cassidy said college employees have been working hard to promote sustainable practices and implement energy- and cost-saving solutions throughout the college, such as conducting energy audits at campuses, building energy-efficient new structures, expanding recycling efforts and introducing renewable energy sources where appropriate.

Across the college’s 11 sites, instructors are being asked to pledge to teach without using paper for Earth Day Thursday or one day during that week, and staff members are being asked to get by without using paper for a day.



“As the CMC committee gathered suggestions for Earth Day activities, the idea of teaching paperless came up. We liked it because the practice could be immediately put into action,” said Dr. Alice Bedard-Voorhees, director of innovations for teaching and learning at the college. “Some may say doing this for a day is only a symbolic gesture, but it does follow the old saying, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.'”

On Wednesday, the public is invited to a panel discussion on pharmaceuticals, personal care products and emerging contaminants at 6 p.m. in the Breckenridge Center auditorium. A panel of experts from Colorado State University, the University of Colorado and the Environmental Protection Agency will discuss Emerging Contaminants and Their Effect on Humans, Fate and Occurrence of Emerging Contaminants, and Fish Studies and Impacts of PPCPs on Humans and Wildlife. The Summit Water Quality Committee will discuss the new Summit Drug Take Back Program, as well as actions consumers can take to reduce their environmental footprint when using pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

In Breckenridge, and in partnership with the High Country Conservation Center, the public can attend screenings of two environmental documentaries scheduled for April 29. Admission is free, but a donation of $5 is suggested. The film “Tapped,” an examination of the big business of bottled water, will show at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 29, in the Breckenridge Center auditorium.

Other Earth Day week happenings at the college’s Summit Campus include a kickoff of increased recycling efforts at both the Dillon and Breckenridge locations and a webcast from the American Wildlife Federation’s competition and awards program Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming.

At the campus in Leadville, the popular Global Issues Seminar is back for the eighth year. The seminar is open to the public, with speakers from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the cafeteria of the College Center building. Topics will range from global water issues to sustainable farming. For more information, contact Sandra Harting at (719) 486-4269.

Leadville community members are invited to assist students and staff with an Earth Day trash cleanup from noon to 4 p.m. on Friday. To get involved, contact Brett Miller at (719) 486-4216 or meet at the campus’s main parking area at noon.


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