‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author to speak at Ohio State

J.D. Vance, Middletown native, Ohio State alumnus and best-selling author of Hillbilly Elegy, will propose a hands-on approach to problems facing his home state — opioid addiction, under-preparedness of the workforce and domestic instability — when he presents “Beyond Hillbilly Elegy: Recovery, Rebirth, Renewal” on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 4:30 p.m. on the university’s Columbus campus. Admission is free but you need to register in advance. Get details and find a link to register.

Students: Help get people to stop dumping trash in Lake Erie

The 2018 Ohio Marine Debris Challenge is underway. It’s a video public service announcement (PSA) contest for students in grades 9 -12 in the Lake Erie region, co-sponsored by Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program, aimed at reducing marine debris (plastic and other trash) in the lake. The first-place prize includes tickets to Cedar Point. The deadline to submit entries is March 16, 2018. Get details.

Environmental Film Series starts Oct. 16 with ‘An Inconvenient Sequel’

The 2017 Environmental Film Series, co-sponsored by CFAES’s Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) and Ohio State’s Office of Energy and Environment, kicks off at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16, with a screening of “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” a 10-years-later followup to Al Gore’s Academy Award-winning climate change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Admission is free and open to the public; free pizza and beverages at 6:45 p.m. Meet in Room 130 in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry (CBEC) Building on the university’s Columbus campus.

Heather Taylor-Miesle, executive director of the Ohio Environmental Council, and Peter Curtis, professor of ecology in Ohio State’s Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, will lead a discussion after the screening.

The series runs six consecutive Mondays through Nov. 20. Next is “The Messenger” (tagline: “Imagine a world without birdsong”) on Oct. 23.

‘Food Evolution’ screens Oct. 18 at Ohio State

Two CFAES student groups, the Food Science Club and the Citation Needed science and agriculture communicators club, present a free public screening of the film “Food Evolution” at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 18 in the Ohio Union on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Narrated by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the film explores the “controversy around the science of food through the lens of the debate over genetically engineered foods,” according to the event flier. A postscreening discussion features UC-Davis scientist Alison Van Eenenaam, who’s interviewed in the film. Learn more.

Organizers are planning a Nov. 7 screening on CFAES’s Wooster campus.

Workshop for new and aspiring farmers

The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association holds its Farm Vision Workshop this Sunday, Oct. 15, from 1 to 5 p.m. in Columbus. Consider attending if you’re a new or aspiring farmer. The workshop will “help you map out your farm vision, clarify your goals and values, and assess your strengths, resources and needs before beginning a farming enterprise,” the event description says. A panel of early-career farmers will speak, too. Get details.

The event is part of the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series. CFAES’s Sustainable Agriculture Team is a co-presenter of the series.

Invasive species in your woods and how you can stop them

Register by Wednesday, Oct. 11, for the Forest Health: Invasive Species workshop being offered by CFAES’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program. It’s from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Lodge at Allardale, 141 Remsen Road, Medina, part of the Medina County Park District.

The event, which is for landowners, gardeners and others, will look at the invasive plants, diseases and insects bugging Ohio; how to identify and monitor them; the harm they do to woods and wildlife if left unchecked; and options for controlling them.

Registration is $35. (Photo: European buckthorn, T. Davis Sydnor, Ohio State, Bugwood.org.)