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Library News

Experts Talk About Environmental Dangers April 23 and 25; Friends of the Library Spring Book Sale Starts with Preview Night April 30

Springfield author and activist Todd ParnellOnly 6 miles from the treasured Buffalo National River in northwest Arkansas, some 6,500 pigs – and huge amounts of their liquid hog waste – are part of a concentrated animal feeding operation. Environmentalists sound the alarm: Untreated waste from this operation, or CAFO, can seep into the porous bedrock and end up in Big Creek, a tributary of the Buffalo River.

Springfield author and activist Todd Parnell speaks passionately about the dangers of industrial farming to the Buffalo and our Ozarks waterways.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, in the Library Center auditorium, he’ll present Life is a River: A Bend Beyond, his personal experiences on the Buffalo. He also shares the urgent message in his book, “Pig Farm,” available for purchase and signing at the event.

“The Buffalo River 6,500-pig CAFO is a travesty that never should have happened,” Parnell says. “As the 8th generation of my family to have grown up with the Buffalo, experienced it, learned from it, and marveled at its beauty, it breaks my heart to see corporate agriculture sneak in the back door of a paradise it has no business even being near.”  
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Parnell returns to the Library Center from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, April 25, for Living Ozarks: Our History and Legacy to Future Generations. A panel of local environmental experts, writers, historians and performers of traditional Ozarks music will explore the changes in Ozarks ecology in the past century and what they mean for the future. 

For details call 882-0714.
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Are you ready for the big Friends of the Library Spring Book Sale? Friends Preview Night Sale is 5-8 p.m. April 30 at the E*Plex, Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. Friends admitted free to preview night, or you can pay $5 – the price of a Friends membership. Like-new books in all genres for all ages, music CDs, movies, audiobooks, vinyl records, games and puzzles are only $1 or less; or $2 and up from Better Books side.

The regular sale is May 1-5. Hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. May 1-3; 10 a.m. -5 p.m. May 4 – Half-price Day; and 1-5 p.m. May 5, Bag Day. Friends accept checks or cash.

Vickie Hicks is community relations director for the Springfield-Greene County Library District. She can be reached at vickieh@thelibrary.org.

* Library card required for use outside the Library

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