Students were welcome to attend the free BGSU Eco-Fair to celebrate Earth Month and learn about how they can help the environment.
On April 16, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., student and local organizations were set up at the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Oval to provide students with information on the environment and their unique organizations.
“This is a collection of environmental organizations on campus and just in the area, as well as some other companies,” said President of the Environmental Service Club (ESC), Olivia Burbrink.
This year, there were electric vehicles, rehabilitation organizations, student groups and protesting groups, all featuring different facets of environmental science and bringing awareness to environmental issues.
“This is Earth Month, so it’s always important for students to be involved in sustainability, but this month is special because it brings more awareness to environmental issues that we have going on right now,” Burbrink said.
Burbrink and other members of the club were at the Eco-Fair, encouraging students to join the club and plant native species to better the environment.
“Native trees are really great for local ecology because their root systems go deeper into the ground than most non-native species,” Burbrink said. “In an area like the Toledo area, the Great Black Swamp area, that’s really important because we have a lot of drainage problems with the water.”
Along with on-campus organizations, many local organizations attended the Eco-Fair to encourage students to see the different paths in environmental science.
“I think the Eco-Fair gives students a chance to learn about different things they can do in this field and all there is to offer,” said Gabby Drown, the Director of Education and Wildlife Rehabilitation with Back to the Wild.
Even if students are not interested in going into the field, Drown said it’s important to educate everyone.
“I think it’s [the Eco-Fair] is a good thing for anybody in any major, because it does have a lot of educational resources for environmental-related things and conservation-related things that are really important to our success and biodiversity,” Drown said.
As a rehabilitation center, they take in animals who have been injured.
“We take in 25,000 animals every single year and our main goal is to, of course, release them back into the wild,” Drown said.
A big problem Drown sees is why animals are being sent to the rehabilitation center, something all people should be educated on.
“90% of those animals that come to us, come to us with human-related issues. So we’re not interfering with nature, like some people may think, but we’re actually interfering with things that humans have caused to wildlife,” Drown said.
At the Eco-Fair, Drown and her team brought education ambassadors who were permanently injured. Students had the chance to see owls, hawks and an assortment of smaller birds.
Drown said that going to the Eco-Fair allows students to look at the different jobs found in the field and find ways to leave an impact.
“I think it’s really important for students to look at the different jobs and different fields there are in environmental studies. There are so many things that you can do out there and so many ways you can impact those related fields,” Drown said.
