Filmmaker Headlining QU Earth Day Celebration

One of the activists spearheading today’s sustainability movement will be the guest speaker Thursday, April 14 when Quinnipiac University holds its Earth Day 2011 celebration.

Filmmaker Ian Cheney, who co-produced the landmark documentary, “King Corn,” will share his films, as well as the “Truck Farm,” a mobile, organic garden that Cheney and his co-producer, Curt Ellis, cultivate in the bed of a Dodge pickup truck. Truck Farm travels the country, raising awareness about sustainable food sources.

Earth Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Burt Kahn Court on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus. Cheney will speak at 10 a.m. Afterwards, the event will showcase student poster presentations and products from environmentally-themed vendors. Free food, raffles and giveaways are also planned.

“I am thrilled to have Ian Cheney as our guest speaker. Having the Truck Farm here and having him talk about the film will show our Earth Day audience what we can do to change the system, one garden at a time,” said Kristen Richardson, a member of Quinnipiac’s Sustainability Committee and an event coordinator.

Quinnipiac is hosting screenings of two Cheney and Ellis films. On March 29, there will be a double screening of “King Corn” and “Big River,” at 8 p.m. in the Rocky Top Dining Hall Annex on the York Hill Campus. “Truck Farm” will be screened on Tuesday, April 12, at 8:30 p.m. in the Mancheski Executive Seminar Room in the Lender School of Business Center on the Mount Carmel Campus.

At the Earth Day event, members of Quinnipiac’s Sustainability Committee also plan to demonstrate the university’s new Building Dashboard website. The site, which Quinnipiac hopes to launch in early April, will make energy use in various campus buildings visible in real time.

For more information, call 203-582-3692 or e-mail Kristen Richardson at Kristen.Richardson@quinnipiac.edu.