VENTURA : School’s Earth Day Covers the Globe

Environmental projects on subjects ranging from global warming to overpopulation filled Ventura High School’s cafeteria Friday as part of the school’s Earth Day celebration.

The aim of the day was to make students and staff aware of environmental problems and to look at ways to solve them, said Chuck Enterline, the school’s marine biology teacher.

Topics included recycling, acid rain, the Chernobyl disaster, drift nets, drugs and rain forest deforestation.

Student Eric Shontz chose an environmental problem closer to home: the Weldon Canyon landfill south of Ojai.

Eric built a contoured elevation map of Weldon Canyon and displayed a copy of the environmental impact report on the proposed landfill.

That report does not address the pollutants that will end up in the Ventura River, Eric said. “I’ve talked to so many people. If something isn’t done about the landfill, people will have to take some action.”

Another project, consisting of a video and printed material, was on the effects of drugs.

Student Robert Kaufman said he picked drug pollution as his project because of the effects on society.

“We need to do something drastic,” he said. “Saying no to drugs is not doing it.”

Several projects concerned contraception, with various birth control devices displayed along with information about their effectiveness.

“I allowed projects on contraception because population control is a major problem,” Enterline said.

The five top projects will be displayed at the offices of the Ventura Unified School District, Enterline said.

Earth Day celebrations for today include removal of trash from the Arroyo Simi in Simi Valley beginning at 9 a.m. at Rancho Simi Park.

The Ventura Regional Sanitation District is sponsoring a Land-by-the-Sea Fair at Channel Islands Park headquarters at 1091 Spinnaker Drive. There will be exhibits, speakers, crafts, games and concerts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Moorpark Beautiful will have a tree sale at Moorpark High School from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 50 trees will be planted by members of Casa de las Senda Homeowners Assn. in Newbury Park at the western end of Borchard Road. That event is scheduled for 10 a.m.