Residents learn about dirt, energy, animals at Earth Day celebration

Earth Day at Lynches River County Park (Added: April 04, 2009)

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Residents learn about dirt, energy, animals at Earth Day celebration

Austin McKenzie and Daniel Farrell get a lesson on Lynches River Fish from Elizabeth Osier, DNR freshwater fisheries biologist, during Earth Day festivities at Lynches River County Park Saturday, April 4, 2009, in Florence, SC.

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Published: April 04, 2009

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FLORENCE — Balmy temperatures no doubt made it easier for Pee Dee residents to venture out Saturday and participate in Earth Day activities and learning projects held at Lynches River County Park.

Earth Day, a global celebration of the environmental movement, is a fitting time to learn about the soil that covers much of the surface of the Earth, said Ernie Strickland, an Agricultural Research Service soil scientist.

Clay, sand or a mixture of the two, called loam, can generally be found in South Carolina.

But one of the most basic things earth dwellers should know is the difference between soil and dirt, said Strickland.

“Dirt is simply soil out of place,” he said. “When you track it in the kitchen and your momma says, ‘Get that dirt out of here!’ When you take it back out in the yard, it’s not dirt anymore its soil.”

Strickland and Dr. Keri Cantrell also of the Agricultural Research Service provided demonstrations that showed visitors how chemicals that seep into the soil affect plants and ground water.

Earth Day participants also learned about new sources of energy that will help and lessen harm to the planet.

Adrel Langley, community relations manager for Santee Electric Cooperative, said it’s kind of scary how little we really know about electricity. But, she said, the state’s electric cooperatives are trying to get the word about greener power sources.

Santee Electric partners with Santee Cooper to spread the word about GreenPower which is electricity generated by renewable environmentally-friendly resources, said Langley.

The company encourages its customers to purchase one block of Greenpower each month. That money goes toward education and the research of non- carbon emitting resources.
Earth Day isn’t only an opportune time to learn about saving energy, but it’s also a good time to learn more about the creatures that co-exist on the planet with humans, said Terasa Young, supervisor of the park’s Environmental Discovery Center.

Young had some of the center’s “residents” including a turtle and a corn snake named Steve on hand to greet some of the visitors to the park.

“I just like to promote tolerance. We have some park visitors who come in and kill snakes that they were sure were cottonmouths or water moccasins, and neither of them were. It was sad for me,” she said as Steve explored her arm. “Everyday is a good day to learn about animals, but Earth Day, in my opinion, is not just about recycling and saving energy, but it’s a day when we need to celebrate all
our natural resources.

Everything has a purpose on the earth, and hopefully, we can learn to be a little bit more tolerate and take away some of the fear and some of the myths and know that it’s not really true a snake will chase you.”