On April 11, ENC’s Creation Care Day, students were challenged in chapel to answer a few trivia questions before speaker, Ben Lowe, took the microphone. The big question: “What is the Audubon? (and no it is not a high way in Germany).”
The closest guess was “Bird society.” The Audubon is a grassroots organization, focusing on the preservation of bird habitats, and subsequently the environment. After trivia, chapel speaker Ben Lowe then discussed with students the importance of Creation Care and why we, as Christians, should take action. As Lowe put it, we have inherited a dying world; however, due to our faith in the cross, we have no reason to despair, and every reason to care. He listed ways students can decrease the size of their ‘ecological footprint,’ like biking, recycling, and other less conventional ways. He encouraged students to get involved in environmental activities, and left them to reflect on this question: "What is God calling you to do?"
Students were then given the opportunity to take action. With the help of Haley Main, of the New York Audubon, around 30 to 40 students joined forces to build a dozen bird boxes for the Massachusetts Audubon. These bird boxes will be set up by ENC students in the Blue Hills Reservation, along with six wood duck boxes to provide nesting space for the native eastern blue bird and wood duck. Later, nearly 100 students, faculty and community guests gathered in Shrader Hall to watch a live bird presentation by Perry Ellis of the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Trailside Museum. The audience was given a glimpse into the world of different birds including a raven, a kestrel, a barn owl, and a red-tailed hawk. This is the beginning of an ongoing project to make ENC more bird and environmentally friendly.