Our guests tonight are Brooke and Monique. They are a part of E-ARC (Environmental Action Resource Center), a free environmental library open to students, faculty, staff and community members. We’ll be taking with them about this weekend’s Eco-Fest, to be held on the Chico State Campus and about the other activities and projects of E-ARC. In this program, too, we read some earth day poems. Because of copyright issues, we’ll list only the titles and authors of the poems, but if you do a web search by author/title, you can find most of these texts online.  Good reading–check it out.

A Brief History of Earth Day

The Earth Network website provides and entertaining history

 Earth Day — April 22 — each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Apollo 13, the Beatles’ last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, the birth of Mariah Carey, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina — an incident not acknowledged for 18 years.

It was into such a world that the very first Earth Day was born.

Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda. ” “It was a gamble,” he recalls, “but it worked.”

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.

Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.

On April 22, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his youthful staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.

Sen. Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest honor given to civilians in the United States — for his role as Earth Day founder.

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues on to the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 rolled around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., USA. Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world ’round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy.

http://www.earthday.net/

Some Earth Day Events 2010

One billion people will celebrate this global holiday in ways as diverse and creative as the places where they live.

This week around the world:

 ITEREI, MIRACATU, Brazil will sponsor Earth DAY 2010: Save the Cassador Basin. ONE Planet. ONE FUTURE. Several Species.

Ottawa Canada is holding 1-800-GOT-JUNK?,  a free electronic disposal day in recognition of the 40th Anniversary of International Earth Day. Only electronic items will be accepted for free disposal.

Banja Luka, in Bosnia and Herzegovina will sponsor ORA (Observe, Rethink, Act) an International environmental meeting.

Croatia will host a conference with students of Faculty of science, University of Zagreb, and also members of NGO BIUS; they will give a series of brief presentations, titled David & Goliath – Short History of Earth – Human Relationship at in Zagreb, in an event organized under the umbrella of EcoGreen Europe as part of the 40th Earth Day Celebration in Croatia.

In Paris, France, there will be Susan Adda ArtWorks Production, An exhibition from The CleanArt Planet Project to celebrate Earth Day 40 .

In Marsa Alam, Egypt there will be a Red Sea Diving Safari to  clean-up dives in three bays in the Red Sea area, they are Gabel Rosas, Marsa Nakari & Marsa Samadai. These dives will include volunteers to collect rubbish from the sea in special designed bags.

In Hyderabad, India, The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) will be screening the movie “Home” at multiple places across the city in partnership with the American Consulate in Hyderabad.

Israel will hold its 2010 Green Globes Ceremony in Tel Aviv, The Event is sponsored by the Green Environment Fund, is a high-visibility annual function which recognizes the best and the worst of environmental practices. NGO’s select those who will recieve the national awards of excellence for outstanding contributions to promote the environment and public health. They also vote on who will be exposed for harmful practices. The Ceremony takes place at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.

In Caracas, Venezuela, a Tree Planting event is being sponsored:  On April 21 and 22, 550 preeschoolers will be planting seeds at their school. They will take care of their plants at home until May 30th, and then the children will be learning what happens while their plants grows. Then, they will bring their plants to the school again by May 30th, and that day, the school will donate those 550 plants to VITALIS (Proyecto Avila) as a support for their reforesting project.

 Earth Day. Org  has many, many more events being sponsored this week in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.

Earth911.org  also highlights these:

General Motors’ plan to release revolutionary electric car

The Climate Rally at the National Mall: The growing dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the lack of a major climate bill are only two of the many environmental problems existing in this country. This is why the Earth Day Network is organizing a climate rally at The National Mall in an effort to encourage Congress to pass effective clean energy and climate legislation in 2010. The climate rally is the highlight of the Earth Day Network’s nine-day festival at the National Mall, and will feature live music from stars like Sting, The Roots, Passion Pit, John Legend, Bob Weir and Booker T.

Sebastian Copeland, an art ambassador of Earth Day Network, is taking a photographic journey into the Arctic where he will witness in person the effect that global warming has had on the poles.

The Green IT Awards in London: To reward the efforts of green distributors, suppliers and companies, Green I.T. Magazine will be hosting the annual Green I.T. Awards on Earth Day. The ceremony seeks to highlight and honor organizations and projects that have changed the face of the I.T. industry’s environmental performance.

On Earth Day, the Jane Goodall Institute in China will be teaching students and instructors in the city of Beijing how to reduce their carbon footprint by switching from conventional tissue paper to handkerchiefs.

An Artist’s Exhibit: iTo raise awareness of the Earth’s diminishing biodiversity, Maya Lin created “What is Missing?”, a Web site scheduled to launch on Earth Day that will compile photographs, videos and information from her various art exhibitions.  All of her sculptures share an environmental theme that serve collectively as a digital memorial to the species and habitats we have already lost. These installations range from the Listening Cone, a permanent sculpture that contains sound and text, to a billboard video featuring a five-minute movie that shows images of extinct and endangered species. The billboard video will be broadcast in cities across the world on Earth Day, and has already won a highly coveted position on MTV’s billboard in Times Square.  Perhaps the most haunting of Lin’s exhibitions is a creation she calls The Empty Room, which is a traveling show where visitors will actually be able to catch and hold onto projected images drifting in mid-air. Species featured range from songbirds to whales, while each panel will include information that viewers can read.

The full article about these Earth Day observations can be found at Earth911.com

Earth Day Poetry

Gary Snyder, “For All”
Mary Oliver, “Climbing the Chagrin River”
Ronald Wallace, “The Great Apes”
James Wright, “A Blessing”
Edna St. Vincent Millay, “The Leaf and the Tree”
William Wordsworth, “The Daffodils”
Li Bai, “Drinking Alone Under the Moon”

Our Conversation with Brooke and Monique of E-ARC

We’re here in the studio talking with Monique and Brooke; they’re with E-ARC , the Environmental Action Resource Center at Chico State.

  1. What are the purpose and goals of E-ARC?
  2. What sorts of environmental resources are available there?
  3. What’s the process for using these resources?
  4. And what sort of help can people expect when they are looking for information?
  5. You also have internship and volunteer opportunities. Can you tell us about those?
  6. What other events have you worked on? (Green Transitions film series, for example?)
  7. You are a resource center? Do you consider yourselves activists? Advocates? What form does your advocacy take?
  8. Your webpage says you do educational outreach. Tell us what you do?
  9. Where are you located and what are your hours? How can people reach you?
  10. And tell us again about the time and place for Eco-Fest.

E-ARC is located in BMU 301 (third floor) open M-Th 9-5:00 and Fri 10-2:00  530-898-5676   http://www.aschico.com/earc

Playlist for Ecotopia #81: Earth Day

1. Supernova            4:42    Liquid Blue   Supernova   

2. Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) 5:11    Neil Young    Ragged Glory           Earth Anthem           3:54   

3. The Turtles            Go Green: Songs for Earth Day

4. Teach Your Children     3:02    Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young        Four Way Street

5. Working On A Dream      3:30    Bruce Springsteen  Working On A Dream

6 .Weave Me the Sunshine          4:28    Peter, Paul And Mary          The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary  

7. Love Etc.  3:32    Pet Shop Boys         Yes (Bonus Track Version)           

8. Nature’s Way        2:40    Spirit   Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus           Rock              

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