Starting Wednesday, The Finger Lakes Institute in Geneva will hold four events to raise environmental awareness in the Finger Lakes.

The first program is a lecture called “Creating Awareness through Sport” by Row4Life founders Alan Kitty and Steve Raffuel. The pair will discuss how to put together an athletic based charity fundraiser, how rowing has impacted their lives, their desire to use their sport to make the world a better place and how rowing from Buffalo to the Hudson River (which the pair will begin Saturday, making a stop at the institute for the lecture) can help create awareness of the environment along the Erie Canal.

The three following events will include a panel discussion on Finger Lakes watersheds on Thursday, Sept. 13, a Teacher Training Day on using Seneca Lake as an outdoor classroom on Saturday, Sept. 15, and a Seneca Lake State Park Beach Cleanup, also that same Saturday, in observation of the International Coastal Cleanup.

Each event, except for the Teacher Training Day, is free and open to the public. Registration is requested for all events. To attend the training day, contact Barb Halfman, Science on Seneca coordinator at bhalfman@hws.edu.

If you go

What: Finger Lakes Institute

programs on environmental health of the Finger Lakes

Wednesday: “Creating Awareness through Sport,” 7:30 p.m., the Finger Lakes Institute Classroom, 601 S. Main St., Geneva

Thursday, Sept. 13: “Whose Lake is it Anyway” panel discussion, 7:30 p.m., Geneva Room of the Warren Hunting Smith Library

Saturday, Sept. 15: “Teacher Training Day,” 8 a.m.; Seneca Lake State Park Beach Cleanup, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Pavilion 3, Seneca Lake

To register: Call 781-4382 or e-mail fli@hws.edu