Happy Monday, SENR!

March 22: And Water for All

If you are like us, we look forward to a wonderful spring season where we get to clean up from a cold, snowy winter, experience some lovely temperatures, and have a renewal of our purpose in life with the beautiful blossom of flowers and plants.

With spring comes water here in Ohio, and water, they say, is life!
While our state’s quantity of water is a resource we appreciate dearly, we know that not every Ohioan can afford access to clean water.

Establishing and sustaining infrastructures for safe, clean, and affordable drinking water and treating wastewater is a costly endeavor.  Ramiro and a network of entities here at Ohio State and outside the university took a deep dive into this issue in Ohio resulting in the production of an educational documentary titled And Water for All. We are excited that in the next two weeks, we get to debut And Water for All, examining the opportunities and challenges that governmental and non-governmental entities face today to ensure clean and affordable water. 

Watch And Water for All in-person at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center or virtually at our EPN YouTube page on #WorldWaterDay, March 22, 2022, to learn how we can collectively ensure all residents of our communities have access to clean and affordable water. 

April 20: Time to Act on Climate Change

We are excited to co-host Ohio State’s Signature Earth Day event at the Ohio Union – our first in-person Earth Day event in three years! This event, open to all, will address climate action in Ohio and beyond. Keynote speakers will reinforce this message by addressing the realities of the climate crisis and encourage the audience to leverage individual innate strengths, interests and relationships into a tool to solve our complex climate challenges.  

The evening event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 20 in the Ohio Union and consists of poster presentations and networking at 5 p.m. and an educational component starting at 6 p.m. We are pleased that President Johnson and Dean Kress will share remarks on addressing climate-related issues here in Ohio.  Jennifer Morris, chief executive officer at The Nature Conservancy (virtual remarks), will provide a global perspective and our in-person keynote speaker, Sophia Buggs, will draw connections to her passions, decision-making, and climate adaptation work at Lady Buggs Farm and across northeast Ohio’s Mahoning Valley.

The details regarding the event and registration will be available on the EPN website in the coming weeks. 

Best wishes for the week ahead, and we look forward to seeing you around campus again soon and at a future EPN event,

Cecil Okotah and Joe Campbell
Environmental Professionals Network

epn.osu.edu