Published: April 22, 2008 10:10 am      

ECU celebrates Earth Day

Ada — The southern Oklahoma premiere of “The Unforeseen,” an independent documentary about water resource and development, will cap the activities of the fifth annual Water Festival and Ada Earth Day event Tuesday at East Central University.

ECU, the city of Ada and US-EPA’s Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Center will sponsor activities to focus on the importance of water to society and to local communities. Activities will include hands-on and visual demonstrations of water- and environment-related issues.

“The Environmental Health Science Department looks forward to co-hosting this program every year,” said ECU professor and event co-founder Dr. Guy Sewell. “It really gives our students and faculty a chance to speak to area students about the importance of water to our daily lives and how that resource should be protected and managed.”

“The Unforeseen,” a winner at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, focuses on the Edward Aquifer in central Texas and the planned real estate development around Barton Springs in Austin. The free showing will begin at 6 p.m. in the Estep Multimedia Center in the University Center and is open to the public.

The screening is sponsored jointly by ECU’s Institute for Environmental Science Education and Research (IESER) and the Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer (CPASA).

The Water Festival and Ada Earth Day event hosted an estimated 400 area K-12 and ECU students in 2007.

The Environmental Health Sciences Club will sell hotdogs and Earth Day t-shirts at the event. Questions about 2008 Water Festival and Earth Day activities can be directed to Sewell at ECU, 559-5547, or Dr. Randall Ross at the US-EPA, 436-8611.