BSU 04-21-22

MAGGIE GETZIN, ALEX HINDENLANG, KAMRYN TOMLINSON, DN ILLUSTRATION

04.21.2022

ballstatedailynews.com

@bsudailynews

DNEarthDay

04.21.22

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Did you miss it? Catch up on the news from April 16-20...

BallStateDailyNews.com From The Easterner to The Daily News 4Former Texas Tech coach Bob

DIGITAL MEDIA REPOSITORY, PHOTO COURTESY

JAMIE HOWELL, DN

Knight visited campus April 19, 2001, and talked to more than 2,000 people in Emens Auditorium.

Knight spoke at the event for more than two hours about his experience as a college basketball coach.

If you have any Daily News memories you’d like to see highlighted, email news@bsudailynews.com.

4April 16: Junior left-handed

pitcher Tyler Schweitzer pitched all seven innings of Ball State Baseball’s 5-1 victory over Akron. While earning fifth win of the season, Schweitzer struck out a career-high 12 batters and held the Zips to a .160 batting average. Schweitzer ranks second in the Mid-American Conference with 11.60 strikeouts per nine innings.

Athletes honored in Academic All-MAC

RISE inaugurated for Ball State SGA

Field Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team released, and Ball State Track and Field placed 17 student-athletes. Senior distance runner Maddie Aul, junior distance runner Sarah Greer and graduate student sprinter/jumper Michelle Lehmann held 4.0 GPAs while 10 other athletes earned a 3.20 cumulative GPA or higher.

Student Government Association (SGA) President Tina Nguyen and Vice President Monet Lindstrand, were inaugurated April 20 in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center. RISE built its ticket around improving Ball State’s transportation options and preventing sexual assault. The 202223 academic year will be Nguyen’s second year as SGA president.

4April 19: The Indoor Track and

VOL. 101 ISSUE: 28 CONTACT THE DN Newsroom: 765-285-8245 Editor: 765-285-8249, editor@bsudailynews.com

The Ball State Daily News (USPS144-360), the Ball State student newspaper, publishes Thursdays during the academic year, except during semester and summer breaks. The Daily News is supported in part by an allocation from the General Fund of the university and is available free to students at various campus locations.

Schweitzer awarded Co-Pitcher of the Week

EDITORIAL BOARD Taylor Smith, Editor-in-chief Connor Smith, Managing Editor Grace McCormick, News Editor Maya Wilkins, Lifestyles Editor Ian Hansen, Sports Editor John Lynch, Opinion Editor Adele Reich, Video Editor Rylan Capper, Photo Editor Emily Dodd, Social Media Editor Emily Hunter, Copy Director CREATIVE SERVICES Maggie Getzin, Creative Director Kamryn Tomlinson, Visual Editor Alex Hindenlang, Visual Editor

4April 20: The RISE ticket,

Lisa Renze-Rhodes, Adviser 765-285-8218, lrenze@bsu.edu The Daily News offices are in AJ 278, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306-0481. Periodicals postage paid in Muncie, Indiana.

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Subscription rates: $45 for one year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily News, AJ246, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306.

CORRECTION The April 14 edition of The Daily News incorrectly labeled a photo illustration on page 3 as a photo. The original, accurate photograph is available here:

To submit a correction, email editor@bsudailynews.com.

4-DAY WEATHER

FORECAST Tyler Ryan, Weather forecaster, Benny Weather Group

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

RAIN

SCATTERED T-STORMS

MOSTLY SUNNY

MOSTLY SUNNY

Hi: 71º Lo: 52º

Hi: 70º Lo: 69º

Hi: 82º Lo: 62º

Hi: 80º Lo: 60º

THIS WEEK: After a very Hot weekend, we will have another rollercoaster ride of temperatures. Starting off the week in the upper 50s with rain chances but should warm up in the 60s with sunny weather. Looking towards average temperatures to end off the month of April.

START CHECKING, FROM DAY ONE.

Waking Up with Cardinal Weather is Ball State University’s first and only morning mobile show focused on getting your ready for the day through local news, weather and lifestyle trends. Waking Up with Cardinal Weather airs every Friday morning at 8 a.m. at @cardinalwx live on Facebook.

DNEarthDay

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MAGGIE GETZIN, DN PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

A HARDER TODAY

FOR A HAPPIER TOMORROW As an editorial board, we hope to make more environmentally conscious decisions for both our paper and ourselves.

E

arth Day began with a university professor and his students fed up with the disrespect humanity seemed to have toward their planet, and every year is an opportunity to once again make a national — sometimes global — impact with student voices. While “teach-ins” were the nonviolent protest of choice in 1970, The Ball State Daily News aims to raise awareness about national policy, local efforts and the dedication of future generations to conserve their home.

As a newsroom dedicated to writing and informing their communities, it is agreed that climate change is one topic that will be reported on for the indefinite future; how could it not be when it’s everyone’s problem? When we look at the continued relevance of Earth Day, it’s just as important to remember what will happen if we fail to keep it in mind during the other 364 days of the year. Climate change is likely to be the single thing that affects every person on this planet in the coming century, and only

remembering that fact each April won’t do much to help.

We didn’t fail to ask ourselves how it would appear to our audience if we published a 28-paged newspaper centered around Earth Day — informing readers what they could do better to reduce their carbon footprint and visually laying out the amount of paper our university uses on average while some may argue we are wasting paper ourselves. But as both student journalists and members of a generation entering a state in which the damage to our planet may be irreversible, we have two major responsibilities on our shoulders: educating our audience and doing our part.

It is through this special Earth Day edition of The Daily News that we hope to achieve both of these responsibilities, not only by sharing educational and informational stories with readers, but by learning new information ourselves so that we can all work on changing our habits together. We understand how hard it can be to break routine and think of solutions, but a harder today will lead to a happier tomorrow.

DNEarthDay 04.21.22

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SYMPHONY OF News

SUSTAINABILITY Solar panels are arranged March 26 on the front lawn of Cope Environmental Center. These panels allow the center to be reliant solely on solar energy. SARAH OLSEN, DN

Cope Environmental Center recognized as Indiana’s only certified Living Building.

Sarah Olsen Reporter With the impact of climate change growing, some companies see it imperative to change the design and construction of buildings, with the goal of giving back to the environment as much as they take. However, this does not come without challenges, as every office, home and store would have to maintain net-zero energy and water levels.

The materials used to make these structures would have to be ecologically friendly and properly disposed of. Then, they must perform consistently.

This is a difficult feat, but it isn’t impossible, and that’s why this is the long-term picture the

You just look up one day and find you’re in a place that’s beyond anything you could have dreamed. That’s how I hope to keep living – in a place beyond a dream.”

- KEVIN MCCURDY, 2010 Ball State CAP alumnus and Cope head architect

International Living Future Institute (ILFI) envisions.

According to its website, ILFI defines itself as an ecologically conscientious nonprofit. Its ultimate goal is to fight climate change by vying for the world’s cities to reduce and eventually eliminate their use of fossil fuels.

Since its conception in May 2009, ILFI has overseen many projects designed to further sustainability and environmental awareness. Its flagship project — the Living Building Challenge — is its primary way of accomplishing this mission. Due to the strict parameters involved, the challenge’s website boasts the title, “the world’s most rigorous green building standard.”

To be certified as a Living Building by ILFI, properties must meet criteria broken down into seven categories, or “petals,” including water, energy, materials, site, beauty, equity and health.

Once a building meets all requirements in these areas, it then must be in use for one year before certification is granted. If any mistakes or shortcomings are identified during that time, the process resets.

As of today, only 30 buildings in the world are certified Living Buildings. Cope Environmental Center, located in Centerville, Indiana, was the most recent addition to that number when it became “Living Certified,” in May 2021. Currently, it is the only Living Building in the state of Indiana, with the next closest one approximately 240 miles away in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The certification process at Cope Environmental Center took about five years. This was from the Board of Directors’ initial commitment to the project to the center’s official recognition by ILFI as a Living Building.

“The dream, so to speak, of what we want is for this building to be a showcase and a resource,” said Karen Hosttetter, Cope Environmental Center’s executive director. “We want businesses, we want individuals, to see us as a place that they can come and

The dream, so to speak, of what we want is for this building to be a showcase and a resource.”

- KAREN HOSTTETTER, Cope Environmental Center’s executive director either hold events here because they buy into the philosophy of the building, or come to us as a resource and say, ‘I want to do that, too.’”

In the process of making this dream a reality, Ball State’s College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) played an important part, Robert Koester, CAP professor of architecture, said. “[CAP] became the technical advisers on the project,” Koester said. “We helped with site placement orientation, construction specification information and evaluations of electrical loads. We also helped to write a lot of content that had to be submitted to ILFI to demonstrate and prove that the design was meeting their criteria.”

The college did not just play an active role in Cope’s development; the project was also individually spearheaded by an alumnus.

2010 Ball State graduate Kevin McCurdy first met Jim Cope and his wife, Helen, the original owners of the property, in 2001 when he worked for them that summer as a naturalist. At the time, the center was small in abilities and impact, so the Copes were looking to expand its levels of sustainability.

McCurdy said he loved his summer working in the facility with the family, and credits his frequent talks with Jim Cope as one of reasons why he took

A hand-drawn robin in chalk welcomes visitors March 26 to Cope Environmental Center. The staff rotate what is drawn on the sign based on the season. SARAH OLSEN, DN an interest in sustainable architecture.

“It was my time at Cope [that summer] that convinced me I could make a bigger positive impact on the environment,” McCurdy said.

“When the Cope staff started looking at building a facility in 2008, I was fortunate to get a call.”

Following the center’s request for help, McCurdy dedicated his next five years to accomplishing ILFI’s Living Building Challenge.

The same way an orchestra conductor oversees each part every musician plays, McCurdy was responsible for keeping all facets of the challenge in line as they were layered together, he said.

Following the years of work, he was ultimately able to create a symphony of sustainability alongside those at the center.

“If it hadn’t been for people like Kevin, who had been involved in the beginning, who just stuck with it, I don’t know that [the certification] would have happened,” Hosttetter said. “It was important to him to see it to the end, and so by the time we got it, we were super excited we really did manage this [and] that it was done with more grassroots input.”

Although Cope Environmental Center attained its certification last year, and is now fully cemented in Indiana’s history, the meaning the project gave to the work McCurdy does continues to influence him to this day.

“On a personal note, my birthday is April 22,” he said. “Every Earth Day, my birthday rolls around, and the world celebrates. I look at the path that got me here, and I’m speechless. Twenty years ago, I couldn’t have imagined a course through life that would have carried me to this spot. You just look up one day and find you’re in a place that’s beyond anything you could have dreamed. That’s how I hope to keep living — in a place beyond a dream.”

Contact Sarah Olsen with comments at snolsen@bsu.edu

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REELING IN Participants

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Sports

Members of the Ball State Bass Fishing Club look forward to the club’s future.

Maya Wilkins Reporter The sky is clear, the water is blue and the temperature is comfortable enough to be outside.

Boats line the lake, each carrying passengers with the same goal in mind: catch as many fish as they can before the day is up.

Joe Howe, fifth-year landscape architecture major and Ball State Bass Fishing Club president, said he’s been fishing since he could hold a rod in his hand, so joining the Ball State club made sense to him.

“I joined a fishing club back in my hometown, Mishawaka, [Indiana,] when I was 16,” Howe said. “When I came down to school here, I was looking into their fishing club and joined my sophomore year.”

The Ball State Bass Fishing Club consists of 10-15 students who have been involved in tournament fishing or are interested in trying the sport. Members can use their own boat if they have one, but Howe said the club has a “strong list of alumni and close contacts” who can take students who don’t have boats to tournaments as well.

Ball State Bass Fishing Club President Joe Howe (right) prepares to compete in a bass fishing tournament. Howe said he began fishing in Mishawaka, Indiana. JOE HOWE, PHOTO PROVIDED “We try to organize three or four tournaments in the fall, and then we try to organize as many as we can in the spring with the weather permitting,” he said. “It’s just about students going out and getting involved in tournament bass fishing.”

Kayden Effinger, sophomore business administration major, said tournaments last usually about one to three days and each fishing session is about eight hours, lasting from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. At the end of the day, competitors weigh in their five biggest fish and receive a score based on the sizes.

Members of the club fish at lakes near Ball State, such as Geist Reservoir, Summit Lake or Prairie Creek Reservoir; however, sometimes they also travel to lakes in northern Indiana.

“We try to do everything in Indiana that we can,” Howe said. “It’s more just about getting people involved in the sport.”

Club members don’t have to compete in every tournament, and Howe said the club is “very low commitment,” because they just want to get as many people involved as they can. Since Howe has been a member, club members have recruited at

the Student Organization Activity Fair and at other events, such as the Indianapolis Boat Show.

However, Howe said the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic made recruitment and getting the club together more difficult.

“From the spring of 2020 to the spring of 2021, we weren’t allowed to fish, so we got shut down for a while,” he said. “People graduated, and we weren’t having activities, so it was hard to get the word out unless you knew somebody in it.”

Now, as COVID-19 restrictions have loosened, Howe said things have gotten better and more people are gradually joining the club, such as Effinger.

Effinger attended Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, his freshman year of college, but transferred to Ball State to be closer to family.

At Murray State, he said it was classified as a team rather than a club because there were more people involved in bass fishing.

“I knew if I wanted to fish in college tournaments and stuff like that, I had to be part of the Ball State

farmers market at minnetrista: indoor market Every third Saturday now through April; 9 a.m.–Noon Connect with local vendors and discover fresh produce, plants, baked goods, and more!

Ball State Bass Fishing Club members Braiden Arnett (left) and Joe Howe (right) hold their fish after a tournament. Members of the fishing club compete in tournaments across the state of Indiana. JOE HOWE, PHOTO PROVIDED

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REELING Continued from Page 5

club,” Effinger said. “I joined this year, and then I am hopefully going to try, in the next couple of years while I’m here, to get a couple more people wanting to go and fish tournaments.”

Effinger began fishing when he was in seventh grade, when he said one summer he and his friends were bored and tried the sport. When he was in eighth grade, he got involved with

works. I just hope the school can let students in the organization do what they want to do for it, because if we did that, that would be the best way for it to grow.”

Preparing to graduate this spring, Howe said he thinks the club will be in good hands going forward and its underclassmen will be able to recruit more easily with fewer COVID-19 concerns and restrictions. He also thinks it helps that they have gotten used to attending smaller tournaments. As more people join, members will be able to go to bigger tournaments and get more experience.

I’m hoping by my senior year, maybe the school will look at us differently … I’ve done this since middle school, and I’ve seen how it all works. I just hope the school can let students in the organization do what they want to do for it, because if we did that, that would be the best way for it to grow.”

- KAYDEN EFFINGER, Sophomore business administration major tournament fishing.

Once he transferred to Ball State, Effinger said he knew the school would have a fishing club because tournament fishing was growing in popularity. As he becomes club president in the fall, he wants to get more students involved in bass fishing.

“I really feel that in Indiana, fishing isn’t as big as it is at schools down south,” Effinger said. “I’m hoping by my senior year, maybe the school will look at us differently … I’ve done this since middle school, and I’ve seen how it all

“I think that, for next year, in the fall and spring, numbers will go up and [there will be] more participation,” Howe said. “We’re going to get more of those overnight tournaments …

I think [Effinger] is going to do a really good job of organizing things and being able to make sure things are running efficiently — I have a lot of trust in him. I think the future is looking pretty good.”

Contact Maya Wilkins with comments at mrwilkins@bsu.edu or on Twitter @mayawilkinss.

Cardinal

Kitchen Hey, Ball State! Did you know there is a food pantry on campus? We’d love to help you if you need it. Here’s when, where and how:

Located in Ball State

Student Center, Room L-26

Open the last three

Tuesdays of every month

We have groceries and toiletries!

(From left to right) Ball State Bass Fishing Club members Jordan Lee, Kenneth Schultz, Braiden Arnett and Joe Howe hold their bass after a tournament. Howe said he’s made some lifelong friendships through the fishing club. JOE HOWE,

PHOTO PROVIDED

Learn more or donate by emailing cardkitchen@bsu.edu

Cardinal Kitchen

SustINaSPORTS inability 35,000 The NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL generate around

metric tons of CO2 each year

85%

More than 85% of greenhouse gas emissions created by major sporting events come from travel and accommodation of fans

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The world’s biggest sporting events are aiming to improve their carbon footprint after high-emission usage in the past.

THE ‘greenest GAMESever ’ •

The Paris 2024 Olympic Committee has committed to using “100% sustainable and certified food sources for its competition”

•

Olympic Village will be made up of low carbon and eco-designed buildings to reduce the environmental impact of construction

•

70% of spectators will be no more than a 30-minute bike ride away from the city’s Olympic sites

•

Paris 2024 Olympics aims to have a 55% decrease in the Games’ carbon footprint

CARBON EMISSIONS AT BIG SPORTING EVENTS 2010

2016

FIFA World Cup in South Africa generated 2.75 million metric tons of carbon emissions

Rio Olympics produced around 4.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions

2014

AMBER PIETZ, DN DESIGN Sources: Waste Management, Paris 2024, Clean Energy Wire, The Environmentor

FIFA World Cup in Brazil generated close to 2.8 million metric tons of carbon emissions

2018

FIFA World Cup in Russia produced around 1.6 million metric tons of carbon emissions

*that’s the same emissions of 500,000 home’s yearly electricity

DNEarthDay

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KAMRYN TOMLINSON, DN ILLUSTRATION; FREEPIK, ART ELEMENT COURTESY

09

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04.21.22 DNEarthDay

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DNEarthDay 04.21.22

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Muncie’s Lifestyles

Organic Grocery A chicken at Nightfall Farm eats a grasshopper in August 2019 at Nightfall Farm.Liz and Nate Brownlee strive to treat their animals ethically, raising them on pastures and in a healthy, natural environment. LIZ BROWNLEE, PHOTO PROVIDED

Dave and Sara Ring connect customers directly to organic produce from local farms.

Miguel Naranjo Reporter When Dave Ring was a kid in the 1980s, he hated apples.

“They’re called Red Delicious, [which] is the type of apple, and they were coated in wax, and they were mealy, and they were disgusting,” he said.

In the ‘80s, Ring said food was mostly industrialized, and food producers strived to make a consistent product in high quantities.

When he tried an organically produced apple — one produced solely with natural substances and processes, according to USDA.gov — the difference was “night and day,” he said.

“I never knew that they could taste crisp, juicy, sweet — all these different flavors, different varieties of apples, not just Washington [Red] Delicious,” Ring said.

The distinction between organically produced food and commercially produced food would become the inspiration and mission of the

Downtown Farm Stand, a downtown Muncie grocery store Ring and his wife, Sara Ring, opened in May 2007.

Located at 125 E. Main St., the Downtown Farm Stand offers a wide range of organically and sustainably produced goods, including food, toiletries, candies and even cider and beer. The Rings have run and developed the store for nearly 15 years, but they originally aspired to be farmers, Sara said.

After moving to Muncie from California, they bought their farm on Eaton-Albany Pike in August 1999 and planted sunflowers in the fields for their wedding, which they also held on their farm. Dave and Sara planted their first crop the following spring, Sara said.

Dave said he noticed most farmer’s markets would follow a business model of reselling goods bought from produce auctions — marketing outlets where farmers sell excess produce at wholesale prices — instead of directly from local farms.

“A lot of times, [resellers] will tell you that it’s just because they want to have a full selection of products all throughout the season,” Dave said, “and that’s a reason, but it’s not a way to really grow a local farm economy.”

From 2004-06, Dave and Sara started their own farmer’s market on 400 S. Walnut St., next to Canan Commons in downtown Muncie. Dave said choosing a downtown location was a “very deliberate choice.”

“We want to give inner-city neighborhoods access to fresh food,” Dave said. “There’s a perception that only wealthy people or more snobby people … eat organic food. It’s not true.

OUR FINAL PERFORMANCE AS MUNCIE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Glorious

GERSHWIN featuring Richard Glazier

SATURDAY, APRIL 30 7:30 PM • EMENS AUDITORIUM Purchase tickets at bsu.edu/web/emens/tickets FREE shuttle from McKinley & New York Avenue Parking Garages to Emens Auditorium before and after every show, provided by Hillcroft Services

Coming next season... ORCHESTRAINDIANA.ORG

11 Low-income people like to have access to clean food, too.”

In May 2007, the Rings moved to their current location and made their farm stand a brick-andmortar business. They first tried to simultaneously run both the store and their farm on Eaton-Albany Pike, but it wasn’t sustainable with limited hours, Dave said.

“We decided that — to make it work — we were going to have to go full-time, so then we did 10 [a.m] to 7 [p.m.] Monday through Saturday,” Dave said. “And that seemed to do a lot, just being available.”

Right away, their efforts were noticed and recognized by locals such as Janice Largent, regular customer of the Downtown Farm Stand.

She has lived in Muncie since 2002 and read about the Downtown Farm Stand in a newspaper when it first opened in 2007.

“Having grown up on a farm, I cared about how the land’s taken care of,” Largent said. “I’m not a trained environmentalist … I just always care about the environment.”

When Largent first began buying groceries at the Rings’ store, they were still in the process of renovating the space and cleaning out the previous owner’s belongings. Even though they only had about one-fourth of the products they currently have available, she said she started buying from them because she trusted their groceries were organic and their animal products were humanely raised.

Dave said their commitment to the local farm economy is strong. Purchasing from local farms, like Nightfall Farm in Crothersville, Indiana, helps the Rings stock their shelves while reducing their carbon footprint since their products aren’t shipped over long distances.

“My husband takes it as a point of pride that… we’re not a big corporation or conglomerate,” said Liz Brownlee, co-owner of Nightfall Farm and president of the Hoosier Young Farmers Coalition, which seeks to recruit and support beginning farmers in Indiana. “We are one farm and part of a community of lots of different farmers.”

There’s a perception that only wealthy people or more snobby people … eat organic food. It’s not true. Low-income people like to have access to clean food, too.”

- DAVE RING, Owner of the Downtown Farm Stand Liz and her husband, Nate Brownlee, attended Hanover College and studied biology and anthropology, respectively. However, they each got the idea of starting a farm from a philosophy of food class Nate took during his senior year.

The Brownlees started their own farm in spring 2014 on Liz’s family’s land and currently raise chickens, turkeys, pigs and sheep for meat, as

04.21.22

DNEarthDay

Nate Brownlee (left) and Liz Brownlee (right), co-owners and operators of Nightfall Farm in Crothersville, Indiana pose for a photo April 2014. They began their careers eight years ago working on organic vegetable farms across Maine and Vermont. LIZ BROWNLEE, PHOTO PROVIDED well as hens for laying eggs. They raise their animals on pasture, meaning they are free to roam outdoors and eat fresh grass and foliage, Liz said.

In addition to raising animals on pasture, the Brownlees also focus on farming procedures isolating carbon in the ground and reducing their carbon footprint. These include silvopasture — integrating trees into the same land that animals graze on — and rotational grazing, where animals are shifted over time between several different spaces to graze on, allowing the foliage to grow back while the animals are away.

“I’m definitely a believer in large-scale change,” Liz said about tempering the effects of climate change. “We also need small change. When people buy good food at small groceries, as eaters, that’s their way of being part of the climate solution. And when farmers like us can choose to farm in a way that sequesters carbon, that’s our act.”

The Brownlees met Dave and Sara when the Rings’ usual source of chicken stopped raising chickens and focused his efforts on raising other animals, Liz said. The Rings posted a Facebook message asking about local farmers with pastureraised chicken, and the Hoosier Young Farmers Coalition told them about Nightfall Farm.

Dave and Sara have been steadily developing the Downtown Farm Stand since opening in 2007 with their rented space. They opened a deli in September 2009, selling food made with organic ingredients, and started a grocery delivery service in November 2011, spanning several towns in northeastern Indiana. In December 2019, they purchased the rest of the building their store is based out of, restoring the second floor so it can be rented out for events.

The Rings plan to expand their business further in the vein of food service, Dave said, including a bar and restaurant, Second Story. They believe it will open this summer.

Dave also said the name “Second Story” has a double meaning.

“Not only is it on the second story of our building,” he said, “but it’s also the beginning of the next chapter of the Downtown Farm Stand.”

Contact Miguel Naranjo with comments at miguel.naranjo@bsu.edu.

ON BALLSTATEDAILY.COM Read the full version of this story online.

An old, worn-out sign for the Downtown Farm Stand stands March 24, 2022. 125 E Main St. is one of downtown Muncie’s oldest buildings, dating back to the 1800s as a drug store. MIGUEL NARANJO, DN

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Dear Mother Earth, Opinion

As we celebrate Earth for another year, she needs reassurance that our abuse will end.

JOSIE SANTIAGO, DN ILLUSTRATION

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y Earth D pp

ay

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Sophie Nulph is a senior magazine journalism major and writes “Open-Minded” for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.

DNEarthDay

Mother Earth Solar System Milky Way

Sophie Nulph Columnist Dear Mother Earth, While the United States has only officially celebrated you for 52 years and the rest of the world for even fewer, I want to wish you the happiest of Earth Days.

Happy Earth Day to the power that gives humans the ability to evolve and thrive. Happy Earth Day to the mysterious entity that keeps scientists wondering, to the balance between day and night — without which humans could not have created time. I have only experienced your greatness for 22 years, but within the time I have spent with you, I have experienced the power you hold over emotions. Just as quickly as you create greatness and beauty, you are able to take it away with natural phenomena to cleanse your grounds of toxicity.

The sun sheds vitamin D as your atmosphere protects us from the cancerous ultraviolet rays, and we thank you by burning a hole right through what you gave us to keep us from burning ourselves. When you get upset, you use hurricanes and tornadoes as tools to carve new paths to create life. After natural disasters, your soil is ready to grow again, and communities come together to mourn and rebuild.

While the silver lining is small, Mother Earth, you help embody peacebuilding in dire situations.

Communities unite and create new connections that bond neighbors and build a better community through commonality, and the only thing we all have in common is you.

Connected through our toes wiggling in your

grass and our hands gripping your rocks as we climb, we have universally decided to call you our home, but I regretfully and sorrowfully speak for only a handful of us when I apologize for how we have shown you our gratitude.

You have shown compassion to our homes, cities and industries through natural resources to help us excel, and grace us with seasons to grow varieties of foods. You’ve given us countless mysteries in our seas, teeming with seemingly endless new things for us to discover. You have helped us excel at science and technology through resources and have granted animals the most stunning natural environments to thrive in, yet despite the success you have helped us achieve, we lack at using what we have learned to better protect you from our inevitable damage.

It is also with my sincerest apologies that the human race has taken so long to make an effort to respect you. In April 1970, when Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-W.I., proposed the idea for the first national Earth Day, the goal of the nationwide “teach-in’s” and peaceful protests was policy reformation on environmental laws in the U.S. Prior to that day — and prior to any larger push toward changing our national agenda — the U.S. had no official laws to protect your soil, your water, your air, your atmosphere. That April 22, 10 percent of the U.S. population took to the streets to protest more than 150 years of our worsening abuse of your resources. National policies were finally created.

In your protection, the U.S. created a new governmental organization called the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to oversee the prepositions of new bills. The

EPA helped pass the National Environmental Education Act, Occupational and Safety and Health Act and Clean Air Act all within 1970.

Two years later, the Clean Water Act passed, and in 1990, the celebration of Earth Day went global.

We started trying to do better at protecting your animals, cleaning your oceans and educating future generations to properly take care of you — but it has not been enough.

While the past 52 years have pushed some waves of environmentalism ashore, those who celebrate you will always inevitably be squandered by the overwhelmingly selfish population.

You acted as our natural classroom with the resources to turn your once blue-and-green surface into a bustling globe of technological development, and we ignorantly burned your trees, dumped oil into your oceans and pushed your limited strength to impossible capacities. Our efforts to protect you lacked enough support to overcome rampages of war and desire for human advancement, and we left you with no time to heal.

Our blunt disregard for your fragility has wreaked havoc on nature, and subsequently, society, in recent years due to overpopulation, pollution, gas emissions and nuclear testing or detonating. The scars from the knives we stabbed into your back have done nothing but expand to take over the rest of you, but I have faith in those of us like myself, those of us who grew up aware of your pain and became advocates fighting to heal our home.

In the same way a wave of environmentalism rolled across the U.S. in 1970s Volkswagen T2 buses, a tsunami is quickly approaching in the form of an upcoming generation of people

with a genuine care for you, Mother Earth. Its barrel is hovering at a height so intimidating it’s impossible to ignore, and it’s ready to crash on shore and flood minds with the truth: We are killing you, and we need to change.

Devastated by the reality of our abuse, advocates like myself are working to right our wrongs, and the generations of wrongs that came before us before our scars to your beauty are irreversible. Scientists have begun creating civil disobedience to push the severity of the ecological effects our race is forcing upon you.

As they protest factories with too much emission pollution, the list of demands from scientists nationally waits for policy reform. People are once again learning to cherish you — down to your very last blade of grass and colorful shard of sea glass shining on your shores.

You are wondrous and beautiful, Mother Earth, and it is far past time to preserve and cherish what you have gifted us. With my deepest sympathy, I wish you a happy Earth Day on the nation’s 52nd year of celebrating you, and I promise to advocate for you forever.

Sincerely, A hopeful hippie Contact Sophie with comments at smnulph@ bsu.edu and on Twitter @nulphsophie.

of forests remain due to deforestation

of the earth’s habitable land was forest

57% 31%

Today only

10,000 years ago

of forests will be remaining in 100 years

0%

Scientists predict

Deforestation is the purposeful clearing of forested land.

Over the years, forests have been destroyed for uses such as agricultural croplands, urbanization or mining activities.

Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics, but wherever the land-clearing happens, it impacts our planet’s climate.

What is Deforestation?

2x

9,900 YEARS of destruction

Equaling the previous

YEARS

100

Half of all deforestation occurred in only the last

OF ITS FORESTS

THIRD THE WORLD HAS LOST A

An area the size of the United States

A breakdown of the causes of deforestation and its impact on forests worldwide

Deforestation

Deconstructing

URBANIZATION/ INFRASTRUCTURE

MINING OPERATIONS

30%

<5%

TIMBER LOGGING The U.S. has of the world’s population yet consumes more than of the world’s paper products

85%

Accounting for of deforestation worldwide

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE

Sources: Live Science, Our World In Data, National Geographic, Pachamama Alliance, Ball State University Green Initiative Report, One Tree Planted

HUMAN LIVELIHOODS Healthy forests support the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people globally, one billion of whom are among the world’s poorest.

INCREASED GREENHOUSE GASES Healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, acting as valuable carbon sinks. Deforested areas lose that ability and release more carbon.

Up to 28,000 species are expected to become extinct in the next 25 years due to deforestation.

LOSS OF HABITAT

Effects of Deforestation

#4

#3

#2

#1

Causes of Deforestation

with enough left over to reach New York City.

WASHINGTON, D.C. TO LOS ANGELES AND BACK

End-to-end, the individual sheets would stretch from

2.7 MILES HIGH

If those reams were stacked one on top of the other, the stack would be

4,900 TREES

REAMS OF PAPER

86,689

Equaling an estimated

Ball State University purchased

IN 1 YEAR

According to a report done in 2001,

ALEX H INDEN LANG, DN

Ball State’s Paper Usage

EVERY MINUTE

are cut down

36 football fields

An area of approximately

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Lifestyles

16

Placing Muncie

on Track

Big Four Rail Park seeks to provide an outlet for the community by creating the city’s first railfan viewing area.

ALEX BRACKEN, DN ILLUSTRATION

17

Charleston Bowles Reporter Red lights flicker side-by-side as two crossbucks lower from the air in sync to block vehicles from passing.

There’s a rumbling in the distance. The head of the train approaches the railroad, and its horn sounds off in a steady pattern. Suddenly, the train and its carts arrive at the intersection and move at a high speed.

As cars wait on both ends of the road, the train passes — it might take five minutes, it could take 30.

Since the first railroad in North America was chartered in 1827, trains have carried cargo and people from one place to another. However, trains don’t strictly serve as a means of transportation or an annoyance for commuters.

Trains and railroads connect communities, which is what Big Four Rail Park and its staff hope to do in Muncie.

Last fall, Big Four Rail Park Secretary Braedyn Kelley and President Charlize Jamieson drove to Fostoria, Ohio, to visit a rail park. At first, Jamieson was reluctant of the rail park concept, but after her two-hour visit to Fostoria, she said her skepticism and perspective changed after striking conversation.

“Are you local?” Jamieson asked a fellow visitor.

“No, I’m from State College, Pennsylvania,” the man said.

“Well, you got family here or are you here for business?”

Jamieson said.

“No, I’m here to watch trains,” the man said.

After her exchange with the man, Jamieson saw two other men. One told Jamieson he was from New Jersey and drove down to Fostoria to watch trains while the other told Jamieson he was from Michigan.

“In that little group of people, we had four states represented, sitting there watching trains,” Jamieson said. “It’s not just train-watching, it’s economics because those people stay there. Fostoria has one motel — they stay in the motel. They have a few restaurants — they eat at those restaurants. A couple of guys brought their wives, and they shopped in Fostoria stores. Now, I’m beginning to think of this from a business perspective and an economics perspective.”

While in Fostoria, Jamieson and Kelley didn’t just meet

PERKS OF GETTING INVOLVED Muncie is one of the few Midwest cities with three active rail lines that intersect in a single location, and between 40-50 trains pass through the city each day. Annual memberships for adults is $40, and for senior citizens and students, it’s $25 per year. Members of the Big Four Rail Park will receive a newsletter about the park and updates through each milestone it hits in the process. Members additionally get exclusive access to the scenes of planning and development.

Source: Big Four Rail Park and Indianarailroads.org

travelers but also members of the local community, including a grandmother and her 8-year-old grandson who described it as “his favorite place to go.”

Big Four Rail Park formed in July 2021 to create the first railfan viewing area in Muncie, one of the few Midwestern cities to have three active rail lines intersect in a single location: the CSX Indianapolis Line, the Norfolk Southern New Castle Line and the NS Frankfort District.

Jamieson said she is relatively new to railfans and rail parks, but she has a background in project management and has several contacts in the community. She hopes to bring organizational structure and analysis to the Big Four Rail Park but has been

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Muncie has the opportunity to be the best rail park in the country, and that’s our goal we want to make. We want to be the best rail park in the United States.”

- CHARLIZE JAMIESON, Big Four Rail Park president fascinated with the loyalty and commitment of the rail community.

“There are people that spend hours online looking at live streaming webcams of trains,” Jamieson said. “I found that difficult for me to wrap my head around. Then, we had the experience at Fostoria, and I can tell you that [the] three-hour ride home was entirely different because I saw the vision. I saw the potential.”

The board of directors meets once a month, but Jamieson said there is communication every day. Although the park hasn’t opened yet, Jamieson and Kelley have conducted four meetings with key stakeholders to discuss the dream and goals of the Big Four Rail Park, including the location, which they can’t publicize until they receive a signed lease agreement from the property owner.

As secretary, Kelley performs organizational development for Big Four Rail Park by writing grants and helping the project develop its brand. Kelley said November 2021 was a crucial point in the process because the IRS accepted its application to pursue 501(c)(3) charitable status.

“That enables us to be able to accept grants from foundations and different agencies,” Kelley said. “That was key — that was a real turning point.”

Throughout the meeting process, Jamieson said she’s received positive reception and excitement from listeners about what this project could do for Muncie.

“Every single person we’ve presented to has come away excited,” Jamieson said. “The hotel is excited because every one of them sees how Muncie and their particular entity is going to benefit. These people aren’t necessarily railfans themselves, but they are excited about the possibilities for Muncie.”

Kelley echoed Jamieson’s message and said they’ve met with Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour, the owner of the Courtyard Marriott downtown and the Arc of Indiana to pitch ideas and share content.

Kelley said Ridenour had a favorable response toward the rail park.

“He was genuinely excited because our project coincides with a lot of his administration’s priorities — the development of park space and enhancement of gateways into the community,” Kelley said. “We have a lot of goals in common between his administration and the rail park.”

Although Jamieson and Kelley said the building process is several years away, Big Four Rail Park is already raising money to help finance its plan. They are raising money for attorney fees, basic expenses, website development and insurance. The proceeds are also needed to benefit from matching grant programs available for nonprofit organizations.

One of the vital components of the current process is spreading the word and expanding the group. Big Four Rail Park lists its annual membership at $40 for adults and $25 for students and senior citizens.

Jamieson understands there is much to do before any construction begins and realizes it will be a multi-year effort. However, she has a clear vision in mind.

“It’s not just rails, it’s not just rail parts, it’s the vehicle that drives people into Muncie,” Jamieson said. “Muncie has the opportunity to be the best rail park in the country, and that’s our goal we want to make. We want to be the best rail park in the United States.”

When constructed, Big Four Rail Park and its members will have successfully brought a new and unique attraction to Muncie the community has not seen before.

Contact Charleston Bowles with comments at clbowles@bsu.edu or on Twitter @cbowles01.

DNEarthDay 04.21.22

18 ARCTIC SEA ICE EXTENT 1979 Rate of change

13% per decade

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS?

BETWEEN THE

95%

CRACKS Polar ice has been melting for thousands of years, but recently it has become a threat to the future of our planet.

of the

OLDEST & THICKEST ice in the Arctic is already gone.

The ice is melting, fast.

WHY IS POLAR ICE IN DANGER?

Glaciers have lost

267

GIGATONNES

every year since 2002.

80%

CLIMATE CONTROL

A unit of explosive force equal to one billion tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT)

69%

of sunlight is reflected back into space by polar ice.

WHY IS POLAR ICE IMPORTANT?

2021

of the Earth’s fresh water lies in polar ice.

WILDLIFE HABITAT

WATER STORAGE

OCEAN CIRCULATION

19 04.21.22 DNEarthDay SEA LEVELS

90%

2022

of global warming occurs in the ocean, with 2021 being the hottest year.

Sea levels rise

1993

102.3 millimeters (mm)

equivalant to 4 inches

OCEAN HEAT CONTENT

ICE SHEET MASS

2021

Rate of change since 2002

ANTARCTICA

GREENLAND

337 ( 2) +

1955

152.0 billion metric

tons per year

ZETAJOULES

The International System unit of electrical, mechanical and thermal energy to denoting a factor of 1021

275.0 billion metric tons per year

WHAT ARE THE THREATS? HUMAN ACTIVITY

GLOBAL TEMPERATURE

CARBON DIOXIDE

WHAT IS THE FUTURE?

3 FEET

If temperatures continue to rise at the current rate, the Arctic will have no ice by

2040

is the predicted sea rise by the end of the century.

MAGGIE GETZIN, DN ILLUSTRATION

Source: National Geographic, NASA, Columbia Climate Control, Worldwildlife.org

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20

Opinion

Despite being a staple of modern consumerism, single-use plastics are a poison pill for the planet.

Miguel Naranjo is a freshman journalism major and writes “Cualquiera Bandera” for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.

In my neighborhood back in my hometown, there was a playground with a small creek behind it, and along that creek was a path that led to a small forest. If I had to guess, it was a time-and-a-half bigger than Christy Woods.

When I discovered this place, I was astounded by the environment.

The canopy blocked out the sun, the birds and bugs were constantly chirping and the aforementioned creek cut through the whole place — I immediately fell in love. I found myself coming back just to explore something so different from the concrete roads and small patches of grass I had lived with for the previous 16 years.

At least, I did until the landowner showed

me the bounds of his property and his “No Trespassing!” signs.

That experience, however brief, opened my eyes to the beauty and fragility of the environment, and the dangers of deforestation, pollution and climate change were all put into perspective for me. However, of the myriad of dangers to the environment, there is none more threatening than plastic, a symbol of society’s disregard for the environment.

Single-use plastics make our lives easier and more convenient, and that’s why we love them, but it’s important not to lose sight of why corporations love them. It’s not for the same reason we do.

Single-use plastics are absolutely everywhere — food containers, cups, bottles, silverware and far more things. In my part-time job at Olive Garden, I can find it in the most obscure of places, like in the tiny packets of sugar we serve with patrons’ coffee.

21

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KAMRYN TOMLINSON, ALEX HINDENLANG, DN ILLUSRATION; FREEPIK, PHOTO COURTESY

There is no doubt that plastic has improved the standard of living in the U.S. and beyond, but there is an egregious amount of it in the world. Approximately 380 tons of plastic are produced each year worldwide, according to Our World in Data.

In terms of pollutants, plastic is a special case because it has a sturdy chemical composition that takes centuries to decompose. It doesn’t biodegrade either; it only breaks apart into smaller pieces of plastic. If it becomes a plastic smaller than 5 millimeters long, then it’s classified as a microplastic.

The most frightening example of plastic pollution is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the northern end of the Pacific Ocean. It’s not actually a huge mass of plastic but rather two systems The remainder of plastic, making up

80%

adopt plastics into their lifestyles, and America as a whole enthusiastically adopted it. is the estimated It also was the beginning of America’s amount needed over “throw-away” culture, according to the next two decades clearwateraction.org. People could replace to manage plastic anything that they used with another identical waste and recycling. product. In the case of soda bottles, people used to keep their glass bottles until they could refill them at a soda fountain or give them There are back to the store it came from.

In the present day, we toss the plastic bottle in the recycling tons of plastic in the bin — if there’s one available Pacific Garbage Patch — and grab another one from the six-pack of drinks in the fridge, no middleman needed.

Plastic is dirt cheap – wholesale prices for plastic pellets are about $1.50 per kilogram, of plastic packaging according to alibaba.com. Any product made 95% of plastic and packaged with plastic is going to be cheap to packaging is used in produce as well. one-and-done products.

Combine that with the fact that companies don’t have to deal with the product beyond shipping it out to distributors (since it’s so light, it also costs less to ship plastic than any heavier alternative), and plastic is a blessing for corporations’ bottom line.

For this reason, corporations will advocate Source: Pew Trust, Nature.com for single-use plastics however they can.

Companies like Coca-Cola publicize that Similarly, there are also grocery stores like The corporations market to the public, who then buy their plastics are eco-friendly and sustainable Fresh Market in Indianapolis that are dedicated to those goods. because their bottles are composed of about 30 environmental sustainability and offer alternatives It’s at this point we have to ask: “What percent recycled material, and on the surface, to buying plastic-wrapped goods. While matters to us?” that sounds great. uncommon in the U.S., these stores do exist and Is widespread pollution from long-lasting However, in 2018, National Geographic found are ways to cut back on waste. plastics and reduced biodiversity from polluting that only 9 percent of plastic waste had actually We’re used to having an excess of things thanks the oceans worth the simplicity of tossing been recycled. Most of it – about 80 percent of to plastic. We have an excess of food, drinks, a single-use plastic in the trash and being 6.3 billion metric tons – made its way to landfills tools, utensils, bags, clothes, etc. How much do completely done with it? all across the world. Recycling is not as effective we really need? More importantly, how much has Half of plastic’s prevalence comes from us, the of a method of reducing plastic pollution as Cocato go to waste? public. Manufacturers keep making it, companies Cola presents it to be.

I try to reduce my plastic waste by using a keep making products with it, but we also keep Coca-Cola is still part of the problem that it reusable water bottle and using tote bags instead buying it. If environmental health matters to the claims to be trying to solve, as are other soda of plastic bags, but then I put on my work public, then it has to reflect in our purchasing companies and shipping companies like Amazon uniform to clean tables at Olive Garden and habits and in all that we throw away. that put plastic in their boxes when shipping their feel like a hypocrite as I dump paper, singleThere are alternatives to common single-use products to cushion the contents inside. As long use plastics and food waste alike into big trash plastics. Some coffee shops can fill a reusable cup as the public believes that they’re working on the bins that come up to my hip. No recycling or instead of using a coffee cup lined with plastic; issue, however, these companies can still expect composting – just trash bins.

Starbucks is testing this as a way to phase out to make sales.

It reflects that the world at large believes that trash is just trash and it doesn’t matter where We’re used to having an excess of things thanks it goes so long as it goes away. We can’t have to plastic. We have an excess of food, drinks, our cake and eat it, too. Single-use plastic was designed to facilitate our lives, but it’s hurting us tools, utensils, bags, clothes, etc. How much do at the same time, and corporations are more than we really need? More importantly, how much has happy to pollute the earth for as long as we throw to go to waste?” money at them.

Something has to change, and it has to be the public.

Contact Miguel Naranjo with comments at their disposable coffee cups, according to a press In short, what matters to the public doesn’t always line up with what matters to manufacturers release from their website. Also, bar soaps and bar miguel.naranjo@bsu.edu. shampoo can be used instead of the liquid forms and corporations. Even then, all three of them are that come in plastic bottles. inherently linked: manufacturers make goods that

$

79,000

BIL670 LIO N

95%

PLASTIC POLLUTION

of 6.3 billion metric tons, made its way into U.S. landfills.

9%

of plastic waste had actually been recycled.

Source: National Geographic

of ocean currents west of California and east of Japan that trap plastic in their centers, according to National Geographic.

According to a 2018 study, there are 79,000 tons of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch alone. These plastics polluting the ocean are being eaten by marine life, including fish, aquatic mammals and seabirds, often to fatal detriment.

In spite of plastic’s negative effects on the environment, plastic production and plastic pollution show no signs of slowing down in the near future. Single-use plastic, after all, is a hallmark of capitalist innovation and consumerist culture.

On April 22, 1946, the first National Plastics Exposition occurred in New York City, showcasing all the different ways that plastic would be able to allay the numerous material shortages and supply chain problems that resulted from World War II. This was the first time Americans would be asked to

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22

PROTECTING THE PROTECTOR Zooxanthellae and coral have existed in symbiosis for at least 160 million years. Their resilience is now being tested by human impacts on the oceans.

ONE CORAL, MANY POLYPS

Polyps are the basic building block for all coral colonies.

Polyps are tiny colorful animals that are related to anemones and jellyfish that are essential for corals to grow, eat and reproduce.

The coral’s polyps are where the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae are found. The algae uses photosynthesis to convert energy from the sun into nutrients the coral can use.

The algae are also what gives coral its infamous bright colors.

THE VALUE OF CORAL REEFS

Coral reefs are both architectural and biological feats. Not only are corals critical for biodiversity, they are living food factories, medicine cabinets and magnets for visitors.

Health

We are 300 times more likely to find new drugs in the ocean than on land.

Tourism Value

AL POLYP COR

A potential $36 billion global value toward tourism

Food Protection Well-managed reefs provide food for 1.2 billion people globally.

CORAL’S MARINE IMPACT

Corals only reproduce if they are healthy, otherwise their energy is directed at survival.

To ensure the future of coral reefs, we must keep corals healthy. After all, 25% of all marine species on the planet are supported by corals.

CORAL REPRODUCTION

Many corals broadcast large numbers of eggs and sperm into the waves in an event known as synchronized coral spawning. The egg and the sperm come together to form coral larvae that swim to the surface to be swept along by ocean currents.

Embryos are released into the ocean and fertilized.

The fertilized embryos then become larva.

Larva float among the sea until one latches onto a hard surface.

After settling, larvae turn into polyps by excreting a calcium carbonate skeleton that protect it within.

The polyps eventually form coral colonies that will continue to grow into large structures.

23

HOW CORAL GETS BLEACHED

There are four main factors that contribute to coral bleaching. The first and leading cause of coral bleaching is an increase in the oceans temperature. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae living in their tissues. The other three main factors that lead to coral bleaching include runoff and pollution, causing ocean water to rapidly dilute, overexposure to sunlight, causing high solar radiation to permeate shallow water, and extreme low tides, causing coral to be exposed to the air.

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Source: The PEW Charitable Trusts, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Smithsonian Magazine, Coral Reef Alliance, The Nature Conservancy ELLIOTT DEROSE, CONTRIBUTOR

Healthy Coral

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae called zooxanthellae that live in their polyps. The algae use the sun’s energy to produce nutrients and oxygen for the coral and in return get a protected home, access to sunshine and other perks.

Stressed Coral

When this symbiotic relationship becomes strained or stressed, the algae are expelled out of the polyps in the corals tissue and spread through the water.

Bleached Coral

Without the algae, the coral loses its major source of food and turns white leaving only calcium carbonate behind.

Without the presence of the zooxanthellae the coral is more susceptible to disease and potentially even death.

BLEACHED OR DEAD

When a coral bleaches, it doesn’t mean it is dead.

Corals can survive a bleaching event but not for an extended period of time.

The zooxanthellae that were expelled from the bleaching create food for the coral, long enough without that food an the coral will eventually die. If the coral survives and environmental factors return to normal, coral tissues can be re-populated by the algae.

CORAL REEFS ARE NATURAL SEAWALLS

Coral reefs allow waves to break before hitting shore, dissipating 97% of wave energy and reducing wave height by an average of 84%..

1

Caribbean Islands

In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean due to bleaching.

Coral reef structures create a natural barrier to buffer shorelines against waves, storms and floods.

2

Thermal stress from this event was greater than the previous 20 years combined.

When destroyed, the absence of this barrier increases damage to costal communities from natural wave action and violent storms.

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24

Carbon Cutters Lifestyles

Jimmy Spencer poses for a photo April 5 in the District Energy Station South. Spencer worked to install the system before Ball State hired him to operate it. Now, he has left the university to work at Automated Logic, the company that designed the controls for the system. RYLAN CAPPER, DN

In 2009, Ball State broke ground on what would become the largest geothermal project in the country, spanning 47 buildings and 5.5 million square feet.

The system cost $83 million to construct and replaced the university’s aging coal-fired steam system. With the goal of sustainability in mind, Associate Vice President for Facilities Planning and Management Jim Lowe designed the system, which has cut Ball State’s carbon footprint in half.

“Doing nothing was not an option,” Lowe said.

A centrifugal cooler sits silently April 5 in the District Energy Station South, waiting for warmer months. The coolers Unused coal-fired boilers decay April 5 in the former heat plant. The university relied entirely on burning coal for heat until the cost about $1.7 million and work only in times of excess heat. The coolers use liquid refrigerant to produce both warm geothermal system went online in 2012. Before the geothermal system, Ball State burned about 36,000 tons of coal annually, and cold water. RYLAN CAPPER, DN resulting in 85,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. RYLAN CAPPER, DN

25

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Cold water pipes snake through the District Energy Station South April 5.

The geothermal system at Ball State boasts nearly 1,000 miles of piping moving 30,000 gallons of water per minute. The average kitchen faucet moves about one gallon per minute. RYLAN CAPPER, DN

Jimmy Spencer sits in front of a diagram of one floor of the Teachers College April 5 in the District Energy Station South. Operators can individually adjust the temperature in every room connected to the system from the control center. RYLAN CAPPER, DN

Associate Vice President for Facilities Planning and Management Jim Lowe poses for a photo in the former heat plant April 5 behind the West Quad Building. Lowe has worked at Ball State for 35 years. During that time, he has made immense efforts to make the university more sustainable, including designing and overseeing the geothermal heating and cooling system. RYLAN CAPPER, DN

One of three natural gas boilers still in operation produces steam for Ball Memorial Hospital and several locations on campus. Associate Vice President for Facilities Planning and Management Jim Lowe said the university will continue to need a consistent supply of steam, but it is exploring options to generate it without fossil fuels. RYLAN CAPPER, DN

Cold water pumps sit April 5 in the District Energy Station South. The system is equipped with 12 pumps, capable of moving about 30,000 gallons of water per minute. Automated sensors detect when more water pressure is needed and will engage more pumps accordingly. RYLAN CAPPER, DN

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26

HOROSCOPE FOR April 21, 2022 Written by: Nancy Black

ARIES March 21-April 19 Today is an 8 — Find another route to fulfill a professional dream. Watch for a lucky break and grab it. Learn new tricks. Your work is gaining respect.

TAURUS April 20-May 20 Today is a 9 — Stretch your wings. Imagine dreamy destinations. Explore a subject of your fascination.

Investigate options and clues. Research leads you in a lucky direction.

GEMINI May 21-June 20 Today is a 9 — Opposites attract. Apply your diverse skills to tackle shared financial responsibilities. Do the task that your partner dislikes. Work together for ease and efficiency.

CANCER June 21-July 22 Today is an 8 — Explore a mutual attraction. Investigate a dreamy situation. Negotiate with your partner to refine the plan. Energize actions for a matter of the heart.

On to the

LEO July 23-Aug. 22 Today is a 9 — Get your heart pumping! Physical action gets stellar results. Practice your moves. Aim for excellence.

Balance work with pleasure.

Go for the gold.

VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22 Today is a 9 — Actions speak louder than words.

Get creative. Practice your artistry. Express your heart. A beautiful possibility sings to you. Share it with someone special.

LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22 Today is an 8 — Make a domestic change you’ve been longing for. Home and family take priority. Clean and organize something delicious. Fulfill a dreamy possibility.

SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21 Today is a 9 — You can solve a creative puzzle. Add detail to basic sketches.

Edit and refine outlines and statements. Discover new possibilities. Make an important connection.

SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21 Today is a 9 — Look for lucrative opportunities and find them. Changes reveal hidden gems. Advance an exciting passion project. You can get the resources you need.

CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19 Today is a 9 — You’re especially fortunate. Grab a chance to advance a personal dream. Abandon expectations or doubts. For new results, try something new. Go for it.

AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18 Today is an 8 — Shut out the noise and bustle. Find a peaceful spot to think and plan. Review, edit and organize. Nature restores you. Private rituals recharge.

PISCES Feb. 19-March 20 Today is an 8 — Connect with friends and share support. Your team might even win. Contribute and participate to increase the odds. Strategize and coordinate. Link arms.

Ball State Men’s Volleyball sweeps N0. 4 Lewis in semifinals of MIVA Tournament.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Ball State Men’s Volleyball celebrates a 3-0 sweep against Lewis in MIVA Semifinals. The Cardinals will advance to face Purdue Fort Wayne in the championship match April 23.

AMBER PIETZ, DN

fresh. flavorful.

authentic Mexican Cuisine

Felix Egharevba (left) goes up for a hit against Lewis April 20 in Worthen Arena. Egharevba was named All-MIVA Second Team April 14. AMBER PIETZ, DN

Vanis Buckholz (left) and Kaleb Jenness (right) go up for a block against Lewis April 20 in Worthen Arena. The Cardinals swept the Flyers 3-0 to advance to the MIVA championship. AMBER PIETZ, DN

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Crossword & Sudoku

CROSSWORD EDITED BY RICH NORRIS AND JOYCE LEWIS; SUDOKU BY MICHAEL MEPHAM ACROSS 1 L.A. Rams’ __ McVay, youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl 5 Fly high 9 Old NCAA football ranking sys.

12 Regarding 13 Limerick’s land 14 Coagulate 15 Test format with options 18 Grassland 19 Using pointe shoes 20 Didn’t stick around 21 Dojo move 24 Card game requirement, maybe 26 __-pitch 27 Farm female 28 Roman who defeated Hannibal 31 Triage areas: Abbr.

33 Bat specialty, and what you need to find in four long answers 38 Name in “Kill Bill” credits 39 Military jeep successor 41 Aid for the lost 44 They’re not from around here, briefly

46 Lowly worker 47 Nocturnal bird that woke up Vinny in “My Cousin Vinny” 51 Messenger __ 52 As is fitting 53 41-Across, e.g.

55 Cocoa butter confection 58 Golfer’s pocketful 59 Sell on the street 60 Series finale: Abbr.

61 “__ the ramparts ... “ 62 Dire March time 63 Slithery swimmers DOWN 1 Longtime Agassi rival 2 Online GEICO alternative 3 Brit’s pond 4 “It wasn’t me” 5 Photo tint 6 Persian Gulf ships 7 Word shortened to its middle letter, in texts 8 “Parks and __” 9 Devil-may-care 10 Protective covering 11 So inclined?

14 Large sea snail 16 Bug 17 Soil-moving implement

22 Jack Ryan portrayer before Harrison 23 Holy scroll 25 Book after Galatians: Abbr.

29 Chit 30 Ancient Mesoamerican 32 Guy found running through the alphabet?

34 Court recitation 35 Little terror 36 Give credit where credit isn’t due 37 Like early childcare 40 Glossy coats 41 “Scorpion” co-star Katharine 42 More pretentious 43 Pummels with snowballs 45 “Us, too” 47 Handled 48 Watch closely 49 Candlemaker’s supply 50 Mekong Valley language 54 Musical series set at McKinley High 56 City with two MLB teams 57 Possessed

SOLUTIONS FOR APRIL 14, 2022

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04.21.22

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