Polar Ice Core Expert to Keynote Ohio State Green Fair in Wooster

Center ice: Paolo Gabrielli, research scientist with Ohio State's Byrd Polar Research Center, keynotes the university's Wooster Campus Scarlet, Gray, and Green Fair on April 17.

WOOSTER, Ohio -- Paolo Gabrielli, a research scientist with Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center, will be the keynote speaker at the university’s fifth annual Wooster Campus Scarlet, Gray, and Green Fair. The event takes place April 17 at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster.

Gabrielli is an expert on the study of ice cores, with an emphasis on paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions — determining an area’s past environment and climate. He has done field work in, among other places, the Alps, Peru and Antarctica.

He’ll present “Ice Cores: Tracing the Human Fingerprint” during the fair’s 11-11:30 a.m. opening ceremony in OARDC’s Fisher Auditorium. Admission to his talk and the fair is free. The fair ends at 6:30 p.m.

Gwen Covert, head of the fair’s planning committee, said Gabrielli was asked to speak due to concern about melting glaciers and climate change.

“Layer by layer, scientists can study climate, pollution and other environmental factors in ice cores, some dating back thousands of years,” Covert said. “I think people will be interested to hear how humans have impacted these changes and what can be done to lessen future damage.”

Gabrielli holds a joint Ph.D. in ocean atmosphere hydrology from Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France, and in environmental sciences from Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy. He joined the Byrd center in 2007.

Named for one of the United States’ most famous explorers, the Byrd center is internationally recognized as a leader in polar and alpine research.

Organizers call the fair a celebration of all things sustainable — biofuels, local foods, recycling, composting, gardening, organic farming, renewable energy, and more. “Green is for life!” is the theme. There will be more than 60 exhibitors, with more than 2,000 people expected.

For more information, call 330-263-3700 or visit the fair’s website, http://www.wcsen.org/wcsggf/.

Coordinating sponsors are Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; the college’s research and outreach arms, OARDC and Ohio State University Extension, respectively; and the Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network.

Financial sponsors include the coordinating sponsors plus about 20 area businesses and nonprofits.

Stay current on green matters through the college’s sustainability blog at http://sustainability.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/.

Writers

Kurt Knebusch

knebusch.1@osu.edu

330-263-3776

Sources

Gwen Covert

covert.25@osu.edu

330-263-3700