San Antonio Armed Forces 2011 Earth Day kickoff event huge success

  • Published
  • By Debbie Aragon
  • AFCEE Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The main hall in Port San Antonio's Bldg. 171 was packed with people early March 31 as the first San Antonio Armed Forces 2011 Earth Day campaign got under way.

When the hall cleared some four hours later, visitors and participants alike deemed the kickoff expo a great success.

"We couldn't have begun our Earth Day campaign any better," said Mike Briggs, chief of public affairs for the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment here. "The kickoff expo was a huge success from the standpoint of attendees and the agencies and businesses that participated."

The expo and other events planned throughout the coming weeks leading up to Earth Day on April 22 are being organized by AFCEE, Air Force Real Property Agency, Joint Base San Antonio and the Army Environmental Command.

"It was definitely a great start to our first-ever consolidated San Antonio Armed Forces Earth Day campaign and reinforced our theme that every day is Earth Day," he said. "Our goal throughout the nearly month-long campaign is to raise awareness about things people can do every day to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle."

Eighteen military and civilian organizations and businesses set up along the main corridor to provide information on everything from recycling and energy conservation to growing herbs and buying earth-friendly products. Many attendees walked away with key chains shaped like energy-efficient light bulbs, water hose nozzles to regulate water usage, piggy banks made from recycled plastics and reusable grocery bags.

Of the wide variety of information areas on display, the snake booth seemed to be one of the more popular. Snakes native to South Texas - both venomous and non-venomous - were lined along a table in clear containers for people to get a close look at the reptiles they may see around their own homes.

Kevin Porteck, AFCEE's natural resources subject matter expert, and Blaine Eaton with the South Texas Herpetology Association answered hundreds of questions and dispelled a fair number of myths about snakes during the expo. They held an hour-long presentation in a meeting room near the end of the expo to provide more information about snakes and to give people the opportunity to hold a few of the non-venomous ones.

Lt. Col. David Chin, a member of the Air Force Medical Operations Agency, said he enjoyed the kickoff expo, including the snakes.

"It was nice and had a good variety of information and organizations represented," he said.

The colonel, who was stationed in San Antonio previously, said he was pleased to find Claude and Eula Townsend with the San Antonio Cactus and Xerophyte Society at the expo to provide information about cactus.

"When I was stationed here before I used to attend their annual (cactus) shows so I had a good conversation with them," he said.

Another popular booth was manned by the San Antonio Herb Society.

Rena Benjamin with the Headquarters Air Force Services Agency was one of those who spent time at the booth.

"I am very interested in herb gardening and was asking about starting my own garden," she said.

As a mother, Ms. Benjamin said she is also very interested in protecting the earth and does that now by recycling. She said she plans to continue her recycling efforts and look into using "greener" cleaning products at home.

Yvonne Baca, president of the San Antonio Herb Society, said she was very pleased with the turnout.

Ms. Baca said her goal and that of the other two herb society members present, was to educate people about herbs; how they are in the normal foods that we eat every day, their medicinal quality and that they are extremely green and easy to grow.

"And that there are a lot of good things that tie herbs to Earth Day," she said.

Many of the questions Ms. Baca and her team received were about how to grow herbs, their medicinal purposes and how people could learn more about herbs and the society's meetings.

"We were astonished (by the attendance)," Ms. Baca said. "We had a whole basket of green cleaner (baking soda and peppermint oil) to give out and that was gone within the first hour. It was wonderful ... the turnout was fabulous and everyone was upbeat, curious and interactive."

In addition to information gathering, expo attendees had the opportunity to sign up for four community cleanup events scheduled over the coming weeks. The first took place April 1 in San Pedro Park and included cleaning away old shrubs, planting new rose bushes, picking up trash and painting structures.

They also signed up to pledge their support to earth-friendly practices at work and at home through the One Million Acts of Green Website. These include simple acts like turning off the water when brushing teeth to "green" home renovations.

For more information on other San Antonio Armed Forces Earth Day events, visit www.afcee.af.mil.