STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU) — Monday, April 22nd is Earth Day and UW-Stevens Point will be celebrating the holiday with several events.
The main event for Earth Day at UWSP will be the keynote speaker presentation from 4 to 5:30 pm at the Laird Room in the Dreyfus Center. Eric Olson an extension specialist at UW-Stevens Point describes the speaker for the Earth Day festivities.
“We’re kicking things off on Monday at 4 pm with a keynote presentation by an author and futurist named Ramez Naam. He’s going to be coming in from Seattle. And sharing his insights into what’s happening with renewable energy.”
Naam’s talk will focus on the cost of renewable energy sources according to Olson. “Ramez Naam has been looking at the trends and the cost of say putting in solar panels or putting up wind turbines. The costs are going down really fast. And if the trends continue, we could have a time when basically solar energy and wind energy are actually less expensive then the current fossil fuel sources.”
UWSP has partnered with the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership at UW-Madison for the Earth Day events. Olson explains the two are working together to present a less traditional Earth Day presentation.
“And I think they wanted to work with us to present something that maybe isn’t the traditional tree hugging type presentation. What we learned is that this idea of renewable energy becoming less expensive is really a common ground for Republicans, Democrats, left or right. No one really seems to disagree with the good news of solar energies becoming less expensive.”
Along with the talk on Monday, UW-Stevens Point will also be holding a rally before Naam’s presentation. Then there will be a Walk for the Earth after the talk from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. There will also be more events throughout the week to celebrate Earth Week on UWSP’s campus.
