Dan Storck’s Environmental Expo Gave Many Messages

Adria Bordas, a Fairfax resident, was dressed as a bee at the Dan Storck's Environmental Expo to highlight an environmental cause. When asked Bordas said, "I’m not a bee. I’m the spotted lanternfly, a new invasive insect."

According to Burke Connection, "She perused the cafeteria at Walt Whitman Middle School where there were informative displays from the Dyke Marsh, forestry, Clean Fairfax, Plant NOVA Natives, air quality, recycling, and others to inform the residents of Mount Vernon what they can do to help the environment. There were electric vehicles out front, workshops in other rooms and a television showing Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” in the lecture hall." Bordas said, "The spotted lanternfly is an invasive species that came to this area from Pennsylvania in a shipment of landscape stone, and the costume looked uncomfortable, but the message was important. The fly feeds on trees and fruits, spreading mold along the way. The costume was created by a grad student at the University of Maryland. I don’t mind, I just want to get the word out, a costume like this draws the folks in." As per Burke Connection, "Although Storck considers the whole Mount Vernon District to be ground zero of climate change signs since they are so close to the Potomac River. The Friends of the Dyke Marsh are on the front line too and showed an old aerial photo of the Dyke Marsh compared to now. There is “ a major restoration going on,” said Dorothy McManus, one of the friends. “In theory, the breakwater is going to be redirecting the flow and hopefully result in the build-up of silt,” said Ned Stone, another friend who was manning their table. Erosion and excavation have caused the Dyke Marsh to go from 1800 acres in 1940 to 53 acres in 2010, and it loses about two acres a year, their pamphlet said."

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