The Hemlock
Volume 1, Issue 1 (March 2008)

Global
Warming
Recycling at
LHU

"One place comprehended can make us understand
other places better." --Eudora Welty

A Sense of
Place

Welcome!
This e-mail newsletter is part of an effort to help the Lock Haven
Lick Run Hike University community develop a deeper sense of place. Such a sense
of place involves a stewardship of natural resources
(environmentalism), meaningful outdoor experiences, and
Central PA
appreciation for the heritage of the region. Our goal is to use this
History
newsletter as a way to focus attention on the many things we as a
Environmental university are already doing in these areas, but also to provide a
forum to develop new activities. We really want everyone--students,
Journalism
faculty, staff, management--to be a part of this. We'd especially like to
Nature Poetry see articles on how to integrate these ideas with the university's
commitment to diversity/internationalism, technological expertise,
and student engagement with the learning process. Please submit
your ideas, comments, and questions to Bob Myers
(rmyers3@lhup.edu.)
Why "The Hemlock"?
The Eastern Hemlock seems to be an appropriate
symbol for what we're trying to do. It's
Pennsylvania's state tree, and it's mentioned in
Lock Haven University's Alma Mater ("Where
the hemlock, pine, and maple murmur in the
night..."). And it's a great tree with an interesting
history. Hemlocks can be found all over campus
(there are three in front of Akeley), and they're
easy to recognize. Look for an evergreen with a

pyramid shape. The needles are short (1/2"-1"), dark green on top,
and the needles have two whitish parallel lines on the bottom. The
cones are small and round. The tree is native to Pennsylvania and can
grow for up to 900 years. In the 19th-century most of the old
hemlocks were cut down and stripped of their bark for the tannic acid
that was used to tan hides. But there are a few old-growth hemlocks
left in this area: if you're willing to drive an hour or so, giant hemlocks
can be seen at Rickett's Glen State Park and Alan Seeger Natural
Area. The biggest threat to the hemlocks today is the Wooly Adelgid,
a non-native insect. For more information, see the Save Our
Hemlocks web page.
What You Can Do About Global Warming
--Danielle Tolton (LHU
Biology major)
Some people believe that there
is nothing we can do to fight
global warming since the
problem is too far out of
control. However, there are
little everyday things that can
make a huge difference in
protecting and saving this
place we all call home. From throwing a piece of paper into a
recycling receptacle to renovating a house to make it more energy
efficient, the opportunities to begin the fight to stop global warming
are endless.
First, it is important to understand global warming. In simple terms,
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide have formed a thick blanket
around the earth. This blanket of gases allows the sun’s rays to shine
through and heat the earth but keeps the reflected rays from escaping
the atmosphere. These trapped rays cause the earth’s overall
temperature to increase, thus creating global warming. This rise in
temperature leads to increased rainfall (including more hurricanes
and floods), warmer oceans, and a melting of the ice caps at the
poles. These changes are destroying the delicate ecosystem of earth.
Much of the carbon dioxide that is causing global warming is created

by humans. Car emissions release toxic fumes of carbon dioxide into
the air. Power plants burning fossil fuels, which release carbon
dioxide into the air. The production of plastic products requires
oil. Wasted paper means the destruction of forests that would have
helped to remove the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Simple
changes in your lifestyle can add up to make a difference. Try some
of the following ideas:
•carpool or walk whenever possible
•recycle or reuse everything
•buy products with less packaging
•take showers rather than baths (and install a low-flow faucet in
the shower)
•turn off all appliances (e.g. computers) and lights when not in use
•use reusable grocery bags rather than paper or plastic bags
•buy a water bottle and refill it rather than using bottled water
•install compact florescent light bulbs
•drive at the speed limit to increase your gas mileage significantly
As you can see, these simple little things take little effort, and many of
them will save you money. And one of the best things you can do is
to educate others. By letting other people know about the threat of
global warming, you can help recruit others to join in the
fight. Global warming is a real problem, but we can fight it. Are you
ready to start saving our planet? For more information please check
out the following websites:
•The Environmental Protection Agency: Climate Change:
Information from the government about global warming.
•The Environmental Defense Fund: Global Warming: This
informative site discusses the facts of global
warming. They point out who is paying for the "bad science" that
claims that global warming is not a
serious problem.
•Global Warming Awareness Movement: A list of 50 simple things
that you can do to fight global warming.
•stopglobalwarming.org: A virtual march to stop global warming.
•Inconvenient Truth Carbon Calculator: Determine where you
stand in terms of the national average.

Recycling at LHU
--John Crossen (LHU Building Maintenance Foreman)
Lock Haven University has been recycling
for approximately twenty years. Our current
Facilities Department Director, Mr. David
Proctor, initiated the recycling program on
his arrival at the university. We have been
supported by the Waste Management
Department at the Wayne Township
Landfill, who established the recycling
program for Clinton County. They have provided us with the blue or
green collection boxes that are seen throughout campus. They also
supply and empty the large metal dumpsters that we fill with our
recyclables that the custodial and grounds department staff pickup
from around campus. Currently, we recycle the following items:
•Office paper--white or colored, magazines, books without covers
(but not golden yellow envelopes)
•Newspapers
•Cardboard
•Cans (except aerosol)
•Plastic bottles & containers
•Glass bottles & containers
•Computers & electronics
•Florescent light bulbs
Many people don't know that if a recycling container is contaminated
(non-recyclable items mixed in), it must be thrown away as garbage.
Thus, it's very important that you make sure to put your recyclables in
the correct container. Also, please remember to rinse out your
recyclables before putting them in the bins. We are currently
discussing ways to enhance our recycling efforts, including new
containers that might be easier to distinguish. If you have any

suggestions, please email me at jcrossen@lhup.edu.

What is a "Sense of Place"?
--Jeff Walsh (LHU Recreation Management Professor)
If you were asked to describe your home town, what would you say
about it? If Lock Haven is not your home town and you were asked to
describe it, what would you say about Lock Haven? Would those two
place descriptions differ from one another? Do you have stronger
feeling towards one than you do the other? Do you know the place
you feel stronger about to better than you know the other place? Do
you think your descriptions of these two places would differ from
other individuals’ descriptions of the same places? Would there be
similarities in the descriptions? Thinking about your answers to these
questions and others, helps one to better understand the sense of
place concept.
Over the years, the sense of
place concept has been an
area of inquiry and research
for human geographers,
environmental
psychologists, sociologists,
social ecologists, historians, urban planners, and even those examining
campus ecology. Researchers in these fields, and others, have often
explored the relationships between place, setting, or environment and

the human behaviors that occur in those settings. Results from this
line of research have, among other things, suggested that it is common
for individuals to develop a “sense of a place” as a direct result of
their interaction(s) and experience(s) of a place and its unique
combination of characteristics or attributes.
Although some critics of the sense of place concept refer to it as
nebulous and therefore of limited research value, others have
investigated the concept in an attempt to better understand how
people feel, behave, and interact in particular settings. Thus over the
years, sense of place has evolved from simply meaning “the general
feeling people have about a specific place” to becoming a more
sophisticated umbrella term for other place-related concepts such as
place attachment, place identity, and place dependence.
Many researchers investigating the sense or meaning of place believe
that individuals, through interacting with a place, often become
“attached” to that place. Place attachment research has generally
conceptualized this attachment as consisting of two distinctly different
components: place identity- the emotional attachment to a place as a
form of self-identity or “this place, in some way, represents who I am;
and place dependence- a valuing a place for its activity-related attributes
or as a setting for action (i.e. you become attached to a place because
of its usefulness for satisfying your needs and goals).
Sense of place research has also uncovered a communality of place
where a place embodies shared meanings as a symbol of cultural

significance. This communality of place or the “social imageability” of
place can become a rallying point for community action. Locally, the
community action, the debates, and the unrest sparked by the dike
levee project or the Drake dump site in Lock Haven was quite likely
due to the fact that some people’s sense of Lock Haven was threatened
by either, or both, projects. It is this potential power of sense of place
that makes it so alluring. For it seems intuitive that if one could
increase the tangibility of a sense of place to the point where other
community members shared a communal sense of place, many issues
such as sustainability, global warming, pollution, environmental
justice, and quality of life would seem to be far less formidable.
Further Reading on "Sense of Place"
•Eyles, J. (1985). Senses of Place. Cheshire, England: Silverbrook
Press.
•Greider, T., & Garkovich, L. (1994). Landscapes: The social
construction of nature and the environment.
Rural Sociology, 59: 1-24.
•Stokols, D., & Shumaker, S.A. (1981). People in places: A
transactional view of settings. In J.H. Harvey (Ed.),
Cognition, Social Behavior, and the Environment (pp. 441-488).
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
•Williams, D.R., Patterson, M.E., Roggenbuck, J.W., & Watson, A. E.
(1992). Beyond the commodity metaphor:
examining emotional and symbolic attachment to place. Leisure
Sciences, 14, 29-46.

Lick Run: The Best Hike 10 Minutes From Campus

Lick Run is a great short
hike (4 miles out &
back/2 hours round trip)
that is close to
campus. To get there
from LHU, go east on
Water Street to the Jay
Street Bridge (across
from the
courthouse). Turn left
onto the bridge, and then
left onto the
Farrandsville
Road. Follow the road
for 6.6 miles. At 3.3 miles
(Queens Run) you need
to turn left to stay on
Farrandsville Rd. At 5.2
miles, the road will bear
right and cross the
railroad tracks, entering the town of Farrandsville. Note the
Farrandsville iron furnace at 5.5 miles. The last 100 yards of the road
are gravel, as you enter State Game Land 89. At 6.6 miles you'll reach
the stream (the road continues but is usually gated at the bridge) Park
your vehicle in the parking lot to the right.
The gated trail is to the left of the road and follows the stream for two
miles through thickets of rhododendron and forests of old hemlocks
and tulip poplars. Just a few yards up the trail on the left is a stone
fireplace that was probably used by the Farrandsville Civilian
Conservation Corp (CCC) camp that was in this area from 1933-41. At
1/2 mile (10 minutes), the Donut Hole Trail (orange blazes) leaves the
Lick Run trail on the left and continues for about 80 miles to Jericho,
PA (keep following the trail to the right). Lick Run is classified as a
Wilderness Trout Water, and on any given day, you might see
turkeys, grouse, or deer. At the end of the trail there is a rock chair
(probably built by the CCC). Before you head back to campus, relax
by the stream, which has been designated a Pennsylvania Wild &
Scenic River. Although the trail is flat and not especially difficult, it is

often muddy, so you might want to wear hiking boots. Also, since
this is state game land, you should pay attention to hunting seasons
and wear bright orange when appropriate.
The History of Central Pennsylvania
Matt Connor has been writing a weekly series of articles for the Lock
Haven Express on Lock Haven history. The introductory article, "Rich
and Colorful History," was published on January 11th, and
a fascinating article on the National Hotel was published on January
18th. We'd also like to recommend Eric Smith's Clinton County, an
excellent collection of old photographs published as part of the
Images of America Series (Arcadia, 2007). Mr. Smith is Assistant
Director of News Services and Publications at LHU.
Environmental Journalism at LHU
An Environmental Journalism class will soon be offered at Lock
Haven University. According to the Eagle Eye (11/14/07): "The class,
created by Dr. Sharon Stringer, associate professor of communication
media, will look at national, state and local issues concerning the
environment. . . . Students will learn how to translate environmental
issues for the public in their writing. Some of these issues may
include, but are not limited to the following: water quality, waste
management and acid rain run-off. With the current global warming
issues, Stringer believes that this is a good time to offer a class such as
this. The environment is important to the public and journalism
students will learn how to get this information out to the people. 'It
will give them a new specialization or increase knowledge in a
specialty area,' said Stringer. It will increase their chances of getting
employed after graduation, providing greater opportunities for
student's futures. Students interested in public relations could find
internships around this area dealing with these issues, such as the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources in
Williamsport."
Winter Lace
--Elizabeth Regan (LHU English major)
Deep in the frozen woods,
lovely promises sleep.
They give watch,

stopping to sweep
the downy evening.
But between the darkest snow
the winds sweep through,
scattering the seedlings
away from the ice lacing the trees.
They feather the land
and take flight.
Spring arises like golden
and pink rays, flushing along
morning’s wisped clouds.
Indigo birds climb
from their woven nests, winging
through perfumed needles
of the forest.
A woman looks out from a loft,
brushing her raven tresses,
eyes soft and luminous, gazing
into the awakening land.
Recommended Websites




iConservePA: A web site managed by the Pennsylvania
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, whose
vision is to inspire citizens to value their natural resources,
engage in conservation practices and experience the outdoors.
Worldchanging.com: WorldChanging.com works from a
simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a
better future lie all around us. That plenty of people are
working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work
remain unconnected. That the motive, means and opportunity
for profound positive change are already present. That another
world is not just possible, it's here. We only need to put the
pieces together.

Lock Haven in 1854 (probably painted from Highland Cemetery
behind the campus). Note the absence of trees. For more information
about this image, visit the Penn State Digital Library Collection.