Focus The Woods Schedule for Thursday February 18, 2010
Posted on: 02/15
Focus The Woods
Thursday February 18, 2010
An All-Day Teach-In about Water Issues
Water, Water, Everywhere?
Find out at Focus The Woods
Water is the basis for all life on our planet. Meeting the needs of an ever growing population around the globe is an increasingly important issue that faces our society. How do we preserve and protect this most precious natural resource?
Join us in this interdisciplinary look at local, regional, national and global information related to water (H2O).
8:45- 9:00 (Hayes Auditorium) Dr. Dottie King, Vice -President for Academic Affairs, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Opening Remarks
9:00- 9:30 (Hayes Auditorium) Bob Flesher, Utilities Manager, Sisters of Providence & Bill Zink, Director of Facilities, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Campus Water: Sources, Systems, and Sinks
9:40- 10:30 (Hayes Auditorium) Ron Moore, Adjunct Instructor of Business, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Water Riddles- This session poses a few riddles about the economics of water as a way of getting us to think about the basic premise of Urinetown, the Musical.
Eliezer Bermudez, Associate Professor of Health, Safety, and Environmental Health Sciences, Indiana State University : Drinking water and wastewater pollution problems in Lima, Peru- Perú, a developing country, is experiencing a very fast development in the areas of technology, industries, mining and tourism. This rapid development has been accompanied by a push from the government to regulate and control water pollution created by this rapid development since the infrastructure for managing this pollution is minimal. The primary objective of this presentation is to offer an overview of current water pollution problems observed in Perú, primarily in Lima, Perú. The presentation will be based on the author's experience during a one month visit to Perú that included teaching at the Pontifical Catholic University of Perú and environmental health research with local municipality officials.
9:40- 10:30 (Hulman 108) Tammy Tintjer, Assistant Professor of Biology, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Drinking Water-Bottled or Tap?
Is tap water safe to drink? What is the impact of making, filling, transporting, and landfilling bottles of water? This talk will address some of the issues surrounding this choice, including the consideration of health and environmental consequences.
Carolyn Sur, Campus Minister, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Learn how World Religions use water. The faithful throw flowers into water, take ritual baths. Religious authorities breath over water during high holy days, immerse candidates under water in initiation rites. Some religions teach that water has the power to cleanse sinners from past wrongs and raise them to a new form of life. To image water calms the soul and offer a new lens for viewing its sacredness.
10:40- 11:50 (Hayes Auditorium) Dave Grabowski, Associate Professor of Biology, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Water: An essential component of all life- Water is the most abundant substance in living systems, making up 70% or more of the weight of most organisms. All living organisms require water more than any other substance. Human beings, for instance, can survive weeks without food, but only about one week without water. The first living organisms on Earth arose in an aqueous environment, and the course of evolution has been shaped by the properties of the aqueous medium in which life began. Water molecules participate in many biochemical reactions and other fundamental processes necessary to sustain life. This presentation will look at the structure of water and several of its inherent properties that are the foundation for the importance of water to all living organisms. What properties of the simple water molecule allow it to function as a support to all living organisms?
Chelsey Barron, Meagan Ryan and Sarah Garrett, Students, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Great Lakes Pollution- Students from the Introduction to Mathematical Modeling Course will present a simple mathematical model of pollution flow in Lakes Ontario and Erie, along with background on the current state of pollution in these lakes and efforts to combat it.
Rosemary Nudd, Associate Professor of English, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Water and the Word- In this session, participants will explore the interconnection between water and language/literature through listening, writing, and sharing.
10:40- 11:50 (Hulman 108) Joyce Cadwallader, Professor of Biology, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Water and Health - As the world has seen in the most recent disaster in Haiti, water is necessary for life and health. In theory, individuals become dehydrated after a short period of time and die. The United Nations recommends a minimum of 50 liters of water per person per day for drinking, food preparation, personal cleanliness, and laundry. Some of the major health issues are related to drinking are quality, quantity, proximity, reliability and cost. A number of these issues will be discussed.
April Baranowski and Courtney Schrink, Students, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College: How Americans Can Help Poor Countries Solve Water Problems- After analyzing the global water access, exploring solutions to water shortages where Americans can make an impact.
Paul Salstrom, Associate Professor of History, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College : Water Controversies in American History- Since 1607, at least 25 major water controversies have flooded this country with flagrant flotsam. Dr. Paul's fast-paced summary will show where they happened and tell what consequences (both intended and unintended) flowed from their ‘solutions.'
1:00 (Hayes Auditorium) Pat Martin, Chief Planner, City of Terre Haute, IN : Converting Brown Water into Clean Water: Terre Haute's Environmental Restoration Program - Terre Haute's resource extraction and post-industrial legacy is clearly evident from long-vacant brownfield sites and leaching petroleum storage tanks that dot the community landscape. The subsurface water quality impact of this legacy is less evident and presents unique identification, investigation and remediation challenges for municipal government to achieve environmental restoration. This presentation documents Terre Haute's current program to realize clean water from a variety of publically owned brownfield point source locations.
1:30- 2:20 (Hayes Auditorium) Max Miller, Purdue Extension Educator, Retired and Chairman of the Wetland Committee, Wabash River Development and Beautification , Inc. (Riverscape): The new State of Indiana Department of Natural Resources Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area is a 7000 acre wetland along 17.5 miles of the Wabash River on the west side of Terre Haute. It has several fishing lakes and shallow bodied areas for waterfowl.
2:30 (Hayes Auditorium) Sr. Terri Boland, Associate Professor of Education, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College: A River Runs Through It- How teaching earth literacy and sustainable practices through each area of study on a college campus can enhance the vision of the institution.
2:50 (Hayes Auditorium) Greening the Curriculum: A roundtable discussion with students, faculty, and the administration about how environmental studies can be integrated across the curriculum.
7:00 (Conservatory in the Cecilian Auditorium): The Music and Theatre Department at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College will be presenting the Wabash Valley debut of the Tony award-winning musical Urinetown, by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis. Don't let the title fool you - this show is a hilarious conglomeration of every musical comedy style you've grown to love - all under the guise of a dystopia where a drought has caused a water shortage and all citizens must pay in order to relieve themselves. The musical will be performed on the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College campus in the Cecilian Auditorium. You can get in free with your Focus the Woods program. Directly following the play, there will be a reception. Call the Music and Theatre Hotline at 812-535-6211 for further information.
