It’s Earth Week here at Frostburg State University. Focus
Frostburg took place on Wednesday, April 18th. “What is that?” asked
many students. Teachers were asked to cancel classes that day for that event. Being
so close to finals, very few did.
Schedule of different
events occurred at the Lane University Center between 9-5 on the 18th. Ranging
from power point presentations to movies to posters, Focus Frostburg is putting
it on for Earth Week.
Many presentations were a success and some not so much. But regardless,
the presentations were filled to the point where there were only one or two
seats left open.
Dr. Benjamin Norris of the FSU Dept. of Chemistry put on a
presentation at 11:00 a.m. on the first floor of the Lane Center. He discussed the history and science of
plastics that are prepared from biodegradable resources.
Every time FSU is holding some kind of event they have small
plastic cups that are known to be eco products. They are given out to guests to
hold their beverages. “Spent some time to figure out what this is which led to
me talking about bio plastics,” explained Dr. Norris.
He then goes on into
this whole chemistry discussion of what plastic is made out. Chemistry is not
an easy subject for many people. It made
this whole discussion hard to follow and left feeling like someone just came
out of a chemistry class. At the end, Dr. Norris asked, “Are there any
questions?” There was silence. The audience was so dumbfounded making them all
speechless.
An afternoon presentation by Jennifer Flinn discussed
Sustainable Burials was way more interesting than the plastic talk. It was about
a business that is not often thought about, the funeral business.
Thousands of
embalming fluid, steel, copper, and hard woods is used every year in the U.S.
for funerals. Cremation is not must better. The amount of fossil fuel used in
cremations in one year could let someone travel to the moon and back 84 times. Natural
burial is an alternative method. The point is so everything is biodegradable. “Ashes
to ashes, dust to dust,” said Flinn.
The natural burial is green in more ways than one. It saves
money for the family. Traditional funerals range from $6,000 to $20,000.
Natural is less expensive and some of the money goes towards preserving a green
space for the future. There are no exclusive natural burial sites in Maryland,
but the closest one is located in Pittsburgh.
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