Earth Day 2017 was celebrated at the Anne Kolb Nature Center with various lectures on protecting and sustaining the environment, exhibits and fun activities.
“We want to enlighten the public about environmental issues,” said Judy Kuchta, a leader of the Broward Sierra Club, which hosted the event. We are concerned about climate change. We want to prevent fracking. We want to prevent dredging at Port Everglades because it will damage and kill the coral reefs.”
Members of the Shark Club at South Broward High School provided an exhibit. “We are learning about sharks and working with universities to track the movement of the sharks. We have caught sharks, tagged them studied their movements,” said Kamila Perez, a member of the Shark Club.
Richard WhiteCloud of the Sea Turtle Oversight Protection gave a presentation. “We need to preserve the environment for future generations. We need to be concerned about the needs of the environment. People can help by picking up trash at the beach rather than littering. We need to be concerned about protecting the Sea Turtles.”
Speakers included Dr. Kirk Rusenko, a zoologist specializing in marine habitats. He has worked for Sea Turtle protection and Ann Wiley, a Florida Master Naturalist who has worked in Sea Turtle conservation for 30 years. Dr. Derek Burkholder, a research scientist with Nova Southeastern University and the director of the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program spoke.