U of M gets early start to Earth Day

Elementary students learn of conservation

As a child growing up in Kerala, a state on the southwestern coast of India, Memphis artist Vinodini Jayaraman watched what she called the “careless depletion” of the region’s lush rain forests and wildlife.

So it didn’t take much persuading when Dr. Karyl Buddington, director of animal care facilities at the University of Memphis, asked Jayaraman to paint a mural for the university’s TIGUrS Garden to highlight both the university’s mascot, a Bengal tiger named Tom III, and other endangered species.

Jayaraman’s colorful 100-foot mural was on display Thursday at the university’s fi fth annual Earth Day celebration, held five days before the official Earth Day of April 22. The mural, “Lest We Forget,” prominently features tigers, pandas, elephants, zebras and an array of other animals, many of which are endangered.

“Everyone has a cause, and this is mine,” Jayaraman explained. “By the time these children are adults, they (the animals) might be gone.”

Jayaraman was referring to children from the U of M Campus School who had an opportunity to release Monarch butterflies and listen to conservation talks with experts from the Memphis Zoo at the U of M festivities. The event was hosted by Tiger Blue Goes Green and Tiger Initiative for Gardens in Urban Settings (TIGUrS), which is sponsored by the Green Campus Initiative.

The all-day event for students, faculty and the community included food, live music, yoga, tai chi, and conservation talks on polar bears, primates, and penguins from Memphis zookeepers.

“Do monkeys really like bananas?” a student from the U of M Campus School asked Memphis Zoo primate keeper Coffy Bennis during her talk on African Students with the University of Memphis Campus School play in front of a new mural designed by artist Vinodini Jayaraman during the Earth Day celebration at the TIGUrS Garden on the University of Memphis campus. This was the fi fth time the event has been held. great ape conservation. “Do you like moneys?” another student called out.

The answer to both of those questions: a resounding “yes,” Bennis said as she explained the logging and coltan mining industries have created roads and infrastructure in rural areas of African countries like the Demo- cratic Republic of Congo. Coltan is a metallic ore used in electronic products. That infrastructure allows poachers to hunt endangered primates like gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees.

The illegal bushmeat trade is the No. 1 threat to African great apes, Bennis told students.

Watching the release of monarch butterflies, another endangered species, was an Earth Day highlight for Chloe Simpson, 6, and Corinne Cowan, 7, both students at the Campus School. “They were really pretty,” Corinne said. “I thought it was really fun watching them come out and fly away.”