SUAREC recognizes the importance of sound environmental policies, and will continue to
support activities such as the annual Earth Day. SUAREC faculty and staff were well-
represented in this year's Earth Day celebration held in downtown Baton Rouge on Sunday,
April 17. There were four displays from SUAREC by Urban Forestry, Animal Science, Plant
and Soil Sciences and Nutrition programs.
This year's theme "Imagine", encouraged festival attendees to use their
imagination in learning about and interacting with the earth. Interactive and creative
educational activities around key environmental themes were the backbone of the festival,
encouraging children and adults to become involved in preserving the environment and the
beauty of our world through daily activities.
The Animal Science program provided a hands-on farm animal display coordinated by Dr. James
McNitt and SUAREC animal science faculty and staff that added an exciting stop for the
youngsters.
The Plant and Soil Sciences displayed a vertical planting system from Dr. Kit
Chin's project which attracted much attention, as did the catnip samples from another of his
projects. Participants were allowed to take catnip samples. Ms. Mila Berhane brought in an
exciting display exercise that required youngsters (and adults) to match the vegetable sample
with the correct plant.
In Nutrition, Dr. Fatemeh Malekian had an eye-catching showcase highlighting
the new food pyramid. She also had a colorful basket of healthy fruits and vegetables and
discussed the importance of healthy diets with the large number of adults and children who
stopped by her display.
The Urban Forestry program exhibited an interactive educational display on
forest dendrology (tree leaf identification), GIS, tree physiology, forest health protection,
urban forest ecology, and urban forest management. The display was staffed by urban forestry
faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students. Drs. Daniel J. Collins and Fatemeh Malekian
served as coordinators of Southern University AgCenter Earth day activities.
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