Best-selling author Ted Levin will be the keynote speaker during Earth Week 2005 at Ball State University.

During Ball State's annual Earth Week festivities April 16-23, students and community members will be celebrating environmental awareness and successes with the theme "Homegrown Success: Indiana Achievement."

Levin, winner of the 2004 John Burroughs Medal and a 1970 Ball State graduate, will give a presentation based on his book "Liquid Land: A Journey through the Florida Everglades," at 7 p.m. April 21 in Teachers College, room 101.

Levin is a naturalist, writer and photographer whose work has appeared in several magazines, including Audubon, Sierra, Sports Illustrated and National Geographic Traveler. In addition to "Liquid Land," his other books include "Backtracking and Blood Brook" and "Sawgrass Poems: A View of the Everglades."

Following his studies at Ball State, Levin completed a master's degree in environmental sciene at the Antioch New England Graduate School. He has worked in several nature-related jobs including positions at the Bronx Zoo and teaching at New England College and the University of New Hampshire. He has lectured around the country, provided nature tours at diverse locations and is an accomplished photographer.

Earth week activities also will include:

• April 16 - Earth Aid 2005, 2 to 7 p.m., features free music, food and displays of environmental organizations from the Ball State and Muncie community on the University Green, located north of Bracken Library along McKinley Ave.
• April 17 - Gathering on the Greenway, noon, 700 E. Wysor St., is a community gathering and picnic at the old train depot and current headquarters for the Cardinal Greenway.
• April 20 - Lecture, "Indiana Biodiversity Initiative," by Forest Clark, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, 7 p.m., L.A. Pittenger Student Center, Cardinal Hall.
• April 22 - Earth Day Festival, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., University Green, features representatives from local businesses, organizations and government agencies who will inform attendees how they can make a difference on the environment. Ball State's Council on the Environment Awards Program begins at noon in the tent on the green.
• April 23 - Spring Clean Up, 1 to 4 p.m., volunteer activity to clean up Muncie community.

Earth Week events, free and open to the public, are sponsored by the Bracken Environmental Fund, Campus Activities Fund Board, Natural Resources Club, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, the Council on the Environment and the Ball State Chapter of the Wildlife Society.

For more information about Earth Week activities, go to www.bsu.edu/nrem/earthweek.