In a world that appears to be perpetually on fire due to the ever-increasing pollution, toxic waste, and negligence humanity seems to have towards their environment, initiatives to bring awareness and change to these problems have arisen with varied results. Among these initiatives is a program that has been ongoing on our own Andrews University campus for the past two years: Dr. Desmond Murray’s Environmental Fridays lectures. Environmental Fridays is a virtual lecture that occurs every Friday morning at 9:30 AM. The series seeks to educate viewers about the different environmental issues and programs that exist to bring about a healthier natural world. With dozens of different speakers appearing to make presentations on their specific fields of work, hosts of high school students, college students, and other community members have been prompted to seek out the betterment of their own environments as a result.
Beginning in the fall semester of 2021 with its “Season One” debut, the program has gained a lot of traction and interest with it now in its fourth season. Dr. Murray, chemistry professor and leader and founder of Environmental Fridays, was able to explain in more depth what Environmental Fridays seeks to accomplish, how to get involved with the program, how to continue learning more about the environment and the issues it is posed with, and what to look forward to in the program for the rest of the semester as well as its season five appearance next fall.
How would you describe the purpose and intention of the Environmental Fridays events that you organize?
“The purpose of Environmental Fridays is multifold; one of the main things is for us to try to nurture and to allow others, [including] our youth, to be aware of environmental issues that cut across a lot of different areas. Environmental Fridays have to do with things…like indoor pollution and outdoor pollution. It [even] has connections to things like the clothes we wear. So, we try to cover a lot of the traditional topics with speakers who are experts and experienced in their fields. Topics range from climate change, to conservation, to nutrition. …We live in an environment and what we do impacts it on a daily basis. Being able to bring this consciousness to young people, as well as to the wider general public, is part of what we’re trying to do.”
What impact have you seen these events and information sessions have on the Andrews University community as well as the Berrien County community?
“As a result of Environmental Fridays, two campaigns or organizations [are] getting started. One is called ‘A for Asthma’ and it is a campaign that seeks to address and educate on the issue of asthma, in Berrien County and particularly in Benton Harbor. That campaign has been going on for at least a year or so now, and it was a direct result of a lecture given by Dr. Susan Buchanan from the University of Illinois. We’ve also had speakers from Ukraine during the [ongoing] war…telling us about the impact of the war. We’ve also had speakers from Kenya…so the impact is broad. We’ve done at least two or three topics dealing with environmental issues in Tobago. On one of those there was a [biology] student from Tobago who, from one of our lectures, was inspired to form a group along with some other biology students called ‘In Tobago.’ It is meant to bring education and awareness to the youth and people in Tobago about what’s around them.”
Are there any specific initiatives that you would like to highlight or are close to your heart?
“One thing I’d like is to hear from journalists, because there are journalists who focus specifically on the environment—[I’d like] to hear from them and the stories that they gather. So, I believe we have lined up a journalist that focuses on the Caribbean area, and she will be able to tell us more about some of the main environmental topics from that region. I would like to be able to get some people who are called ‘celebrity environmentalists.’ There are some celebrities that are very active in the environment and it would be cool to get them to talk for us. People like [Jane] Goodall.”
Are there any specific demographics or groups that you recommend attend these events?
“[Environmental Fridays] is for everyone. We are all a part of the [natural] environment, and that is one of the things that we’d like to emphasize. We are not above it. That sort of approach has led to a lot of environmental destruction, us thinking that we are better than it. Without the environment we wouldn’t exist. As living things, we exchange both energy and nutrients with the environment. So, this applies to everybody. We try to target young people, but young people in many cases are a step ahead of older folks, in terms of environmental awareness. Environmental Fridays would seek to bring them the information, the facts, and the situations in which the environmental impact is an important issue.”
Where can students find more information about Environmental Fridays?
“We have our own website. It’s called theenvironmentalfridays.com. We also have our YouTube playlists, and I basically organize them by season.”
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.