Enlighten Me

Eddie Sanchez (00:07):
This is Eddie Sanchez.

Rodney Crouther (00:08):
This is Rodney Crouther.

Eddie Sanchez (00:10):
And you're now listening to a special mini episode of Enlighten Me. So the semester is going by super fast, Rodney.

Rodney Crouther (00:15):
Yeah, it really is. 2024 is rolling. Yeah.

Eddie Sanchez (00:18):
Yeah, it is. And here we are moving into April. And so for this particular episode, I wanted to talk a little bit about Earth Day. Oh yeah. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Earth Day or how familiar the audience might be with Earth Day, but this is an annual celebration that celebrates the environmental movement, and essentially it's meant to raise awareness about our natural resources and just the importance of protecting our Earth. And obviously because we're here in San Marcos and we have the river and we have so much beautiful nature around us, I think this is a prime location where being aware of this movement, being aware of Earth Day is very critical.

Rodney Crouther (00:53):
And we've got so many programs at Texas State that do green research and advocate for environmentally friendly and sustainable issues and awareness and education.

Eddie Sanchez (01:05):
And there's actually going to be an event here in town, and I'll talk about that a little bit later.

Rodney Crouther (01:09):
When is Earth Day?

Eddie Sanchez (01:10):
So it's April 22 in the United States. And so it started off in the United States. It started off in the ’60s. It was a national environmental movement. Of course, the ’60s was a big counterculture movement.

Rodney Crouther (01:20):
Absolutely.

Eddie Sanchez (01:22):
Things were changing. So the first Earth Day was actually celebrated in 1970. There was millions of people that actually participated in that very first Earth Day. And because of that support, it actually helped to push for some environmental friendly legislation, like the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act.

Rodney Crouther (01:43):
Oh, great.

Eddie Sanchez (01:44):
So that was actually a pretty big movement. And so it was 20 years, I believe that it was primarily just in the United States, and then eventually in 1990, the Earth, they would go global.

Rodney Crouther (01:53):
Yeah. It seems like it's really grown and expanded out across the globe.

Eddie Sanchez (01:56):
Yeah, it has. Right now, there's actually over 190 participating countries. So Earth Day, essentially, it's a lot about providing information and kind of acting on this, acting on environmentalism. So activities often include educating local populations, talking about green energy, sustainability, food and agriculture, providing civic engagement opportunities. It's really about learning and teaching people, I guess, how to be more in unison with our environment in a healthier way. And some things that people can do if they're interested in participating in Earth Day is they can plant a tree. They can get involved with a local community, vegetable garden. I know that there's some here in San Marcos, they can just volunteer. They can start a compost bin, recycle, donate. You can even pick up glitter. I actually went to a river cleanup over the weekend, which was —

Rodney Crouther (02:51):
Oh, cool, for the San Marcos River?

Eddie Sanchez (02:52):
For the San Marcos River. Yeah, I dug out a toilet.

Rodney Crouther (02:56):
Wait, like an actual?

Eddie Sanchez (02:58):
Yeah, an actual toilet.

Rodney Crouther (03:00):
Somebody dumped in our river.

Eddie Sanchez (03:01):
It was more like—

Rodney Crouther (03:03):
On the Bank?

Eddie Sanchez (03:04):
Yeah, the bank. Still though. Yeah.

Rodney Crouther (03:05):
Come on. People do better.

Eddie Sanchez (03:07):
So definitely Earth Day comes around. Definitely recommend. People should volunteer to clean up around their little area, however best they can. And actually, with that being said, so there's going to be an annual Earth Day San Marcos Festival at Spring Lake on Saturday, April 20. This is a free community wide event. It's a family friendly event, so people can come and just celebrate our local natural resources. Cool.

Rodney Crouther (03:31):
Connected nature. I can't think of a better place in San Marcos than Spring Lake and the Meadows Center there.

Eddie Sanchez (03:35):
Yeah. Yeah. It's such a beautiful area. And I mean, that's where the San Marcos headwaters, right.

Rodney Crouther (03:40):
So yeah, every time I go out there, it's hard to believe that you're still just a short walk from downtown really. But it's own little light green world there.

Eddie Sanchez (03:53):
And if people haven't had the opportunity, I definitely recommend doing the bottom glass—

Rodney Crouther (03:57):
Oh, the glass-bottom boats?

Eddie Sanchez (03:58):
Glass-bottom boat tours. Yeah. Those are super awesome. And it is just so interesting to see all the little fish and all the little springs and whatnot.

Rodney Crouther (04:06):
Come out, people, check it out.

Eddie Sanchez (04:08):
So that was my quick little mini episode topic for today. Rodney, what are you about?

Rodney Crouther (04:14):
Actually, we were on the same wavelength here. Did you know Texas State has an Office of Sustainability?

Eddie Sanchez (04:20):
I do, but I'm not too sure. I guess I just don't know really what they do.

Rodney Crouther (04:24):
It's relatively new for the university. It started a few years ago, but they coordinate a lot of sustainable and green programming. They partner with a lot of our departments like the Meadows Center and our Department of Geography. They're hosting a groundwater symposium on April 2 from 6 to 9:00 p.m. It's a good example of also how the university partners with a lot of other groups, because conservation and environmental groups from across the Hill Country really are signed on to participate.

Eddie Sanchez (04:58):
Is that something that anybody can attend?

Rodney Crouther (04:59):
Yeah, anybody can attend. It's free. It's at the LBJ Student Center on campus in the grand ballroom. I believe. They also, if for any of our on-campus community, students, faculty, staff, check out the Office of Sustainability's website, they do have some get involved links on their webpage, and they've got a list for students of student groups, volunteer groups, service groups that do a lot of different things. Like we've got a beekeeping club on campus, Bobcat Buzz that actually produces honey that I think they sell at farmers markets.

Eddie Sanchez (05:38):
I wasn't aware of that. Yeah. So do you know where that bee farm is at? Is that over at the?

Rodney Crouther (05:44):
I'm pretty sure somewhere on our Texas State YouTube we've got a video on it, but I have never been to the beehives.

Eddie Sanchez (05:50):
Oh, that's pretty cool though. And the Office of Sustainability helps to coordinate that?

Rodney Crouther (05:56):
They kind of coordinate and help get information out and things like that. And Bobcat Blend, there's a composting group, different departments, some of the academic units. Of course, the Department of Agriculture has a couple of student service organizations that are focused on sustainability. Oh, at Earth Day, the event at Spring Lake that you just mentioned, Office of Sustainability is hosting a clothing swap. So kind of that reduce, reuse, recycle, kind of keeping old clothing out of landfills. And I know, I mean we have student workers in our office, we work on a college campus, you know just from the chatter that a lot of the generation coming up now, our student generation is really into sustainable fashion. They shop at thrift stores.

Eddie Sanchez (06:38):
And fast fashion is kind of out of the window, or at least it's moving away from that, which is really nice to see.

Rodney Crouther (06:44):
Just trying to reduce all that waste.

Eddie Sanchez (06:47):
Because there's actually a ton of material waste that takes place because of fashion, because of clothing. So that's great to hear that there's going to be an opportunity for students to do a little bit of swapping and reuse some clothes.

Rodney Crouther (07:00):
Alright, so Earth Day, sustainability.

Eddie Sanchez (07:02):
Springtime, we're moving in.

Rodney Crouther (07:03):
Yeah, we're both pretty hyped about spring, clearly. Yeah.

Eddie Sanchez (07:05):
Finally, some warm weather coming in. And on the topic of spring, we're moving into Easter. And so since I spoke about Glurpo last time, it kind of put me in this mind state of like, I need to talk about something a little different, little —

Rodney Crouther (07:18):
Something other than our historic nightmare underwater clown. Yes.

Eddie Sanchez (07:22):
So I cheated. I actually did two topics for today. I did a little bit of studying the Easter bunny origins. Oh, are you familiar with the Easter Bunny origins?

Rodney Crouther (07:33):
No. Just those Cadbury egg commercials with the rabbit that sounds like a chicken.

Eddie Sanchez (07:38):
Anyways, I did a little bit of studying on this Easter Bunny stuff.

Rodney Crouther (07:42):
Why do we have an Easter Bunny?

Eddie Sanchez (07:46):
It started off in Europe, I believe, and they actually call it the Easter Hare. OK. So it's not the Easter Bunny over there. It's the Easter Hare. And this was back in the Neolithic era. They were actually doing ritual burials for bunnies alongside humans. OK. Yeah. So it's believed that it was, was religious significance representing rebirth, especially because rabbits multiply very quickly and it's springtime. So it was believed that it was—

Rodney Crouther (08:16):
Like a symbol of rebirth.

Eddie Sanchez (08:18):
Exactly, yes, sir. So this even happened up until the Iron Age, those burials were still pretty common, and people weren't allowed to eat hare or rabbits because of the religious significance. Oh, wow. So it's believed that the rabbits, the reason why we have rabbits in spring and Easter is because of the festival of a Saxon goddess named — I don't know how to pronounce their name properly, but I believe it's Eostre. So you spell that E-O-S-T-R-E. So it's kind of close to Easter. And she was a goddess of fertility, whose animal symbol was the rabbit. So there's been a little bit of archeological research to confirm this connection. There was accounts from the 1600s, that's where Easter egg hunts started.

Rodney Crouther (09:03):
OK.

Eddie Sanchez (09:03):
So this is Germany's.

Rodney Crouther (09:04):
That goes back way longer than I thought.

Eddie Sanchez (09:06):
Yeah, yeah. It actually, it does. And it's believed that the Easter Bunny arrived in Americas in, or rather in America, via German immigrants in the 1700s. They brought that belief system with them, and they actually had an egg-laying rabbit named Osterhase. And kids would make little nests for the rabbit. And then it was, it's kind of like Santa Claus. It would come and lay colorful eggs, and if you would leave out carrots and little snacks for the rabbit, the rabbit would leave you gifts.

Rodney Crouther (09:37):
OK, so it's like the milk and cookies.

Eddie Sanchez (09:39):
Yeah. Yeah. So the rabbits and the eggs were kind of tied into this symbol of fertility. And that's been going around since antiquity or that association. And eventually it just moved into being associated with Easter time. As we're moving into spring from winter, things become alive again. And the rabbit just represents this cycle of life and death.

Rodney Crouther (09:58):
Dude, thanks for bringing that up. I really like those stories where you take something that we all just kind of take for granted that, yeah. Easter rabbits, Christmas, Santa Claus, and delve into like, where did we get that? Yeah.

Eddie Sanchez (10:09):
Why eggs? Why rabbits for Easter? So I touched on that a little bit, and it was something that I found very interesting and something I wanted to share with our listeners.

Rodney Crouther (10:17):
Yeah, dude, thanks for enlightening me. Well, thank you for listening to Enlighten Me and we'll see you next month.

Eddie Sanchez (10:22):
See you next month, everybody.

Rodney Crouther (10:25):
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