EARTH DAY Gathering examines eco issues

Run by students, the conference features researchers and activists.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
EAST LIVERPOOL -- As part of the Earth Day celebration, students at Kent-East Liverpool have organized an EcoJustice Conference to be held Saturday in the Slak Shak, in the main campus building. Registration begins at 9 am, and the program starts at 9:30.
John Paul Sherfel, manager of the Beaver County Conservation District, Beaver, Co., Pa, will speak about the dangers of pesticides and fertilizer run off.
Next, Alonzo Spencer of East Liverpool, environmental chair for the NAACP, will discuss his work fighting the Waste Technologies Inc. incinerator.
"This has to do with economics, the amount of pollution, and environmental problems," said Patti Swartz, Associate Professor of English, and one of the faculty organizers of the conference. "The declaration is a kind of deterrent to pollutants, and puts potentially polluting industries under tighter scrutiny."
Still dead
Joseph Conroy, who is working on a Ph.D at Ohio State University, will discuss his research in the "dead zone" in Lake Erie. "This is an area where life doesn't exist in the lake," said Swartz. "It was believed at first that life would eventually return to this area, but it has not yet."
A small international panel of people associated with the university will discuss global mining.
Since this conference is really a joint student effort, organized by Swartz's Sophomore Honors Colloquium and Roxanne Burns' Evolution, Ecology, and Society class, there will be additional activities run by the students. This includes about 20 student panels on various topics in the morning. In the afternoon, there will be a poster presentation. Students created posters on various topics, which will be on display, and the student will be present to talk about their posters.
XAnyone may still register for the conference, which is free. However, the deadline has passed for ordering the box lunch. To register, (330) 382-9574, or studenttutor@eliv.kent.edu.