Tuesday, April 22, marks the 38th annual commemoration of Earth Day around the world – and the East Tennessee State University and General Shale Brick Natural History Museum at the Gray Fossil Site is hosting its very first observance this year.
Activities at the celebration include cleaning the surrounding grounds, two public lectures given by respected university scientists and closing receptions for two unique art exhibits at the museum.
All of these special activities are free and open to the public but do not include admission to the Fossil Site or temporary exhibits.
The Earth Day Commemoration runs from 3-7 p.m. and begins with the “Gray Fossil Site Clean Up” aimed at sprucing up the place in the aftermath of visits by more than 70,000 people since first opening to the public at the end of August 2007.
Members of the community are invited to volunteer alongside staff and other organizations to help keep the area clean from debris.
Bags, gloves and recycling bins will be provided to all those who wish to “pitch in” by pitching out any trash marring the landscape around the facility.
At 4 p.m., “Coral Reefs: Gems of the Sea” will be delivered by marine biologist and ETSU Professor Emerita Dr. Diane Nelson, who is renowned for the exotic and unusual images reflected in her underwater photographs that she has taken on various research trips around the globe.
Then at 5 p.m., Dr. Fred Hossler, professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology in ETSU’s James H. Quillen College of Medicine, will present “Honey Bees in 3D” by using two projectors and virtually depicting in 3D the life of a bee.
The special event will end with a 6 p.m. closing reception with light refreshments for two exhibits at the museum – “Orders of Magnitude” by Hossler and “Earth Permanence” by Kara Bledsoe.
Hossler uses a series of scanning electron microscope photographs, “demonstrating the complex process of recording views of the intricate substructures and micro-designs of objects and tissues, and of places within them – inaccessible to the naked eye or regular light microscope.”
He notes the process is “of great significance to our understanding of normal structure and function and disease processes.”
Bledsoe’s exhibit artistically showcases some of the flora found at the site. She directly casts live plant life in clay, “exemplifying the fragility, complexity and beauty inherent in nature.” She strives to connect directly with the Earth using clay to “capture the fleeting nature of plants, making objects worthy of existence and permanence.”
The ETSU and GSB Natural History Museum and Visitor Center at the Gray Fossil Site is located less than two miles from Exit 13 on I-26. For information, call toll free 1-866-202-6223 or visit www.grayfossilmuseum.org.

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