Sunday, March 16, 2008

Bluegrass Community and Technical College: Spring 2008 Speaker Series

This semester, Marcia Freyman, Danny Mayer, Jean Watts, Terri Anderson, and several students have been working on a cooperative sustainable agriculture project. Support for the local food economy and for community gardening is on the rise in the Bluegrass and speakers this spring will be focused primarily on various gardening and agriculture issues. All presentations will be held in the Oswald Building auditorium on the Cooper campus unless otherwise indicated.

March 25, 6:30-7:45:
Jim Embry of the Sustainable Communities Network. Community activist Jim Embry will speak to the momentum behind Lexington’s community gardens, why they are important, how they help build environmental awareness and move our community toward ecological sustainability.

March 27, 6:30-7:45 p.m.:
David Matas, immigration and human rights lawyer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Mr. Matas will speak about his investigation into allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China.

April 3, 4 - 5 p.m.:
Erin Howard, BCTC Multicultural
Affairs. Hispanic Outreach Coordinator Erin Howard will educate her audience about the work of World Vision. This international organization works to lift up the lives of the poor and the oppressed.

April 8, 6:30-7:45:
John Walker, UK Biologist. During World War II, in the face of food and other scarcities, Lexington joined towns and cities across the country in growing its own food. The Victory Gardens were a source of pride - and a way to help “win the peace” on the homefront.

April 14, 6:30-7:45:
Mac Stone, Kentucky Department of Agriculture Manager. Starting in 1999, Kentucky’s
tobacco growers began receiving payments to compensate for loss of tobacco quotas and declining demand for their tobacco. Learn about the impact of this infusion of money on Kentucky’s farms and farm families.

April 17, 6:30-7:45:
Aloma Dew, Sierra Club. Recently, we learned of our country’s largest recall of meat - 143 million pounds. The humane treatment of livestock, the suffering of farmers in Mexico, the use of synthetic pesticides, and nutritional deficiencies
are all aspects of Aloma Dew’s thesis - that eating is a moral act.

April 22, 6:30-7:45:
Garrett Graddy, UK Geography Graduate Student. The source of our food - the seed - is the topic of this presentation. Open pollinated versus hybrid versus genetically modified seeds and their global distribution result in misery or bounty for those who plant the seed. On Earth Day, come and learn about the political ecology of seed.

April 25, 11:30-2:30:
United Nations Association Annual Meeting/Luncheon, UK Goodbarn. Presentation
by Sarah Lynn Cunningham - Is Our Carbon Footprint Stomping Out the Developing World’s Chances? Kentucky Proud meal, silent auction, international
displays. Students $10; All others $25.

April 26, Arbor Day Festival, The Arboretum

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