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Earthly focus

Published 4/24/2008 in News : Area coverage

By STEPHANIE FARLEY

sfarley@gctelegram.com

While Tuesday officially marked Earth Day, the sign outside the Finnup Center Wednesday stated what those with Lee Richardson Zoo believe and try to instill upon others about the environment.

"Earth Day Every Day."

The main reason the Earth Day Fair, which drew 1,254 students and teachers this year to Lee Richardson Zoo, falls on a Wednesday vs. the actual Earth Day deals more with the availability of high school students -- those in zoology class, 4-H Ambassadors and in FFA. They volunteer their time, and Wednesdays work better for them, said Lee Richardson Zoo Director Kathy Sexson.

But the lesson Sexson, Andrea Smith, zoo curator of education, and others try to get across to fair participants and zoo visitors isn't really dependent on the day.

That lesson: That every bit everybody does can make a tremendous, collective difference, Sexson said, from recycling to turning off the lights or television when not in a room. Smith adds a couple other simple things to the list that anybody can do -- pick up trash and turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth.

Wednesday's events included, among others, "making your own paper" with staff of the Garden City Recycling Center; UV (ultraviolet) bracelets from Garden City High School FFA that show the importance of sunscreen and other outdoor skin protection; a lesson on honey bees by Finney County Extension agent Dean "Whitey" Whitehill; homemade aquifers in a cup by Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management; the "Underground Café" by K-State Research and Extension; a lesson on reusing plastic bags by staff at Target; and performances by StoneLion Puppet Theatre, Kansas City, Mo., to let people know the importance of wildlife in their own backyard and how to create a backyard sanctuary.

The zoo's first Earth Day Fair was in 1990 -- the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, which started in Washington, D.C., in 1970 to call attention to the declining health of the planet. Lee Richardson Zoo's event has continued, being held 16 of the 18 years since its inception. About 2,200 students and teachers attended the first year in the Finnup Center for Conservation Education in 1997 -- the age was later changed to third grade and above, dropping attendance to a number staff could better handle.

The center's also allowed for more exhibitors, Sexson said, adding they can either be inside or outside on zoo grounds. And what she hopes kids walk away with from the exhibitors and event is an appreciation and respect for nature, animals and the environment, and a realization that they don't have to wait to start taking care of the planet.

"They're the stewards of the planet," Sexson said.

Smith also aims through the event to get kids outside and start that appreciation of nature, decreasing "screen time." She said she likes watching TV or a good movie, but she also takes time to step outside and let the sun, rain -- or whatever Mother Nature's throwing her way on that particular day -- hit her skin. Not everyone takes the time to do that, she said, adding she believes that's led to a disconnected feeling in some toward nature.

"We want to connect them," she said.

The idea also is that the lessons taught during the fair will spread, with Sexson, Smith and others not only catching this generation, but also the ones below (siblings) and above (parents).

Edith Scheuerman Elementary School students Reymundo Herrera, Kaitlyn Vargas, Elizabeth Hernandez and Logan Coghill, all 10, listed off what they'd learned so far on Wednesday, including how to make an aquifer in a cup; not to kill some of their backyard bugs, because not all of them are bad; and how to make paper frogs.

Put together, the day's events represented celebrating Earth Day and the environment. And that's important, Reymundo said, "'cause it saves the earth."

The Western Kansas Community Foundation and Kent and Carol Nanninga collectively donated about $1,500 to bring StoneLion Puppet Theatre to the event. Before wrapping up a presentation, performer Heather Loewenstein told the group, "Each of us really can make a difference."

And even though Tuesday was the official Earth Day, she told students, "every day is just as important."

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