More than green for a day
Matt Nelson - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: Metro
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Green buds are growing on the trees underneath a thinly clouded sky. It's Earth Day in Iowa City, and thousands have gathered on the Pentacrest for a political rally - but also for the annual environmental celebration.
This year, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., headlined a rally for the event, drawing what officials have estimated at roughly 8,000 participants involved in a day devoted to the world's environment.
"Every day is Earth Day, in my opinion," said UI Environmental Coalition student leader Kyle Sieck. "But it's nice for people who aren't in tune with the environment."
The first Earth Day was observed in the spring of 1970 in an environmentally focused teach-in started by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson. The year before, the Cuyahoga River had caught fire in Cleveland because of the vast amounts of industrial waste and garbage in the water - sparking a public outcry.
( DITV video feature )
Taking a cue from the antiwar protests of the time, Nelson took the model of teach-ins and transformed their focus to the environment.
That first national event, estimated to have 20 million participants, is credited with starting the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and later the Clean Air and Water acts followed in 1972.
In subsequent years, recycling and environmental programs took off in municipalities across the United States. In Iowa City, Mayor Ross Wilburn recently signed a climate-protection agreement, and the UI has embraced energy conservation.
But other efforts have stalled.
University officials took down recycling bins set up by the coalition because the containers were overflowing - violating the agreement between the UI and group members to keep them as long as the area was clean. As a result, the bins, which had been at the UI for six years, were removed indefinitely.
This year, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., headlined a rally for the event, drawing what officials have estimated at roughly 8,000 participants involved in a day devoted to the world's environment.
"Every day is Earth Day, in my opinion," said UI Environmental Coalition student leader Kyle Sieck. "But it's nice for people who aren't in tune with the environment."
The first Earth Day was observed in the spring of 1970 in an environmentally focused teach-in started by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson. The year before, the Cuyahoga River had caught fire in Cleveland because of the vast amounts of industrial waste and garbage in the water - sparking a public outcry.
( DITV video feature )
Video in QuickTime format, click here for free player download
Taking a cue from the antiwar protests of the time, Nelson took the model of teach-ins and transformed their focus to the environment.
That first national event, estimated to have 20 million participants, is credited with starting the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and later the Clean Air and Water acts followed in 1972.
In subsequent years, recycling and environmental programs took off in municipalities across the United States. In Iowa City, Mayor Ross Wilburn recently signed a climate-protection agreement, and the UI has embraced energy conservation.
But other efforts have stalled.
University officials took down recycling bins set up by the coalition because the containers were overflowing - violating the agreement between the UI and group members to keep them as long as the area was clean. As a result, the bins, which had been at the UI for six years, were removed indefinitely.
Be the first to comment on this story