WVUP hosts Earth Day Celebration

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - West Virginia University at Parkersburg hosted an Earth Day Celebration on April 26.

Organized by the Ecohawks, WVUP’s environmental student group, the celebration brought regional environmental organizations together in the college’s multi-purpose room.

Parker Schartiger, a WVUP student and member of the Ecohawks, explained why he thinks hosting a public event focused on these issues matters.

“A lot of people just don’t know how they can help or what they might be doing to contribute to ecological issues, and so just getting the information out there, telling people how they can reduce their impact or even telling people how they can benefit from making things a little better around them.”

Members of the public moved from table to table to learn about environmental and ecological issues.

Meagan Niebler represented Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services at the event, a law firm that provides pro bono legal services to people facing environmental harm.

She said events like this help build community connections.

“Having an environment that lets us all be together and build up community together. We know opportunities for young folks to get involved and have their voices be heard is also really important here in Parkersburg.”

Craig Minton, who attended on the behalf of the West Virginia Division of Forestry, said it was a good chance to talk with people in the community about West Virginia’s trees and forests.

“It’s a good day to focus on those issues. Sometimes they get overlooked. Today is a good day to focus on those issues, and I’m glad to see people attending the event and being able to talk with them and answer any questions they may have regarding trees and protecting those trees, taking care of those trees.”

Similarly, Eric Engle of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action said the Earth Day event offered a good opportunity to have conversations about other environmental and ecological issues.

“We’ve tried to have conversations about what folks can do in their homes, their communities, as individuals, as families, to address the global climate crisis and the related crises and how we utilize fewer resources and things like that. And we focus on renewability and sustainability.”

Other organizations represented at the event included the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and Patriot Gardens.

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