Environmental Professionals Network Collaboration

In June, Jenny Adkins had the opportunity to help organize and speak at an EPN breakfast, alongside Cadine Navarro, Terry Hermsen, and Janice Glowski, about native prairie plants and the connection between the arts, sciences, action, and resiliency. This partnership was formed after a visit the Frank Museum (Otterbein University) to see Cadine’s exhibit titled “It Sounds Like Love,” which features nine native prairie plants and the artistic representation of the vibrational sounds their dormant seeds create. Intriguing stuff, right?! As an educator and botanist, Jenny quickly bonded with the group and has participated in several of the exhibit events. They decided to share this synergy with the community through The Ohio State University’s Environmental Professional’s Network. Here they asked participants to walk through the Alum Creek floodplain and greenspace surrounding the event location and notice land management differences, problems, and potential. This familiar, physical landscape framework was tied back to the emotional connections forged with the “voices” of the native seeds and how we can reframe our land management approaches to work together so that all voices are heard.

If you’d like to learn more about this exhibit, you can visit the seeds in their new “home,” at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center Library in Columbus.