* WHO :* Grady ORear, president of Green Advantage and the developer of EcoVillage in Loudin County, Va.; Joe Fisher, WVU associate vice president of facilities and services (A Greener WVU ); Chris Haddox, visiting assistant professor in the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences (Sustainable Design); Chris Fletcher, a Morgantown city planner (A Greener Morgantown)

* WHAT :* West Virginia UniversitysA Little Change Makes a World of DifferenceEarth Day ForumORear will give a talk calledConvenient Truths.A panel discussion will follow, featuring Fisher, Haddox and Fletcher.

* WHEN :* 3-5:30 p.m. Tuesday (April 22)

* WHERE :* National Research Center for Coal and Energy (Assembly Room), Evansdale Campus

* ORGANIZERS :* WVU Political Science 489 Capstone Course students supported by the NRCCE and taught by professor Susan Hunter, Department of Political Science, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS :* The Earth Day forum also includes exhibits, and participants will have a chance to win an iPod Nano. For more information, go tohttp://www.polsci.wvu.edu/earthday/.

* OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS EVENTS THIS WEEK :*

  • The WVU Environmental Conservation Awareness Now (WE CAN ) program is holding a water bottle exchange from noon-4 p.m. Friday (April 25) on the Mountainlair plaza. Members of the WVU community are asked to collect one weeks worth of plastic bottles from their regular consumption and exchange them for a WE CAN reusable polycarbonate bottle.

    WE CAN is the Universitys initiative to increase recycling and conservation efforts across the WVU campus. Programs include a recycling program at each of the Universitys buildings; the Mountaineers Recycle program, which collects recyclable materials from tailgaters at Mountaineer Field; the annual Blue and Gold Mine Sale, a huge yard sale with items donated by students and employees that benefits the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties; Ecolympics, which encourages students living in residence halls to increase energy conservation and recycling efforts; and WVU E -Cycling Day (collection of electronic devices such as computers, VCRs and CD players for recycling). For more information about WE CAN and other upcoming events, visithttp://wecan.wvu.edu/.

  • Sustainability is one of the topics on WVU President Mike Garrisons blog. He would like to hear your ideas forgreeningthe campus. Where do you see opportunities to save energy or eliminate waste? Go tohttp://president.wvu.edu/and join the conversation.
  • WVU s Sierra Student Coalition is co-sponsoring a presentation by Allan Tweddle, who has been working with former Vice President Al Gore to create a slide show based on theInconvenient Truthdocumentary. Tweddle will discussGlobal Warming, Hot Topic or Hot Air? Crisis or Opportunity?at 7 p.m. Thursday (April 24) in the Rhododendron Room of the Mountainlair. The talk is free and open to the public.