CLARION
Brevard College, Brevard, N.C.
Monday, April 16,1990
Volume 57, Number 10
by Sarah Fish
Clarion Reporter
"In this heartland.
She feels like water in my hand.
Freeway like a river, cuts through
this land
Into the side of love like a burning
spear.
And the poison rain brings a flood
of fear
Through the ghostranch hills.
Death Valley waters
In the towers of steel belief goes on
and on."
U2
The deep-seated concern for the
ihreats planet Earth is facing is echoed
through the voices of millions of people
worldwide. The concern is directed
toward rain-forest destruction, holes in
the ozone, and emission of gases that
are creating the greenhouse effect 1990
is the 20th anniversary for Earth Day, a
demonstration in 1970 that gave birth to
the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the
creation of the U.S. Envrionmental
Protection Agency. National orangizers
of Earth Day 1990 expect a turnout five
times larger than the one 20 years ago.
Rolling Stone Magazine, Feb. 8, 1990
edition says, "Earth Day 1990 is an
attempt to tap into the heat generated by
the growing anxieties over the
environment in the past couple of
years."
On campus at Brevard College,
students will be given the opportunity
to participate in numerous Earth Day
activities that last all week.
EC's Environmental Awareness
Group, headed by faculty advisor Sharon
Brown, has planned a busy schedule
Saturday, April 21: 10 a.m.-2
pm. participate in the Transylvania
County Earth Day Celebration at South
Broad Park. There will be over 15
exhibits and live music. EAG will
present a 10 minute video on global
wanning.
Sunday, April 22: 1:30-4:30
p.m. Dig up trees and deliver to the
Brevard Elementary and Middle School.
Also, an erosion project is tentatively
scheduled.
In addition, the James Addison
Jones Library at the College will have
displays for Earth Day. The Library has
recently added several "green" titles to
its collection which the faculty and
students are encouraged to check out,
titles ranging from tops on ecology, to
the ozone crisis to clearcutting to acid
and more.
Earth Day
Brevard College is joining in
Monday, April 23: 3:30-5.30
p.m. Clean Stream Day. Also, Bill
Thomas, Chairman of the N.C. chapter
of the Sierra Club, will speak on
environmental concerns at 8:15 p.m. in
the Auxiliary Gym.
Thomas, who lives m Cedar
Mountain outside Brevard, has been
active in this region preserving the
endangered areas of
environment. He holds a doctoral degree
from the University of Wisconsin and
worked fw 33 years as a researcher at the
local DuPont plant. After joining the
Sierra Club in 1978, he helped preserve
the Horsepasture River by securing
National Wild and Scenic Riiver status
for the river in 1986. The N.C. Chapter
Chair since 1989, he was appointed to
the Governor’s Western Environmental
Council that same year.
Prior to his address m the gym,
environmental displays by vanoi^
agemM.sKh as th. Forest Sen-.ct,0>e
Girl Scouts, the Sierra Qub, and others,
will be set up at 7:30. The public is
invited, but as admission fee, people are
asked to bring items to be recycled, such
as aluminum, glass or newspapers.
Tuesday, April 24: 3:30-5:30
p.m. Clean Forest Trail. Also, the Great
BC Meat Out. The EAG is urging
students to give up eating meat for one
day to help protect the environment.
Sign a petition in the cafeteria. The
money ARA would have spent on meat
will go to student-designated
organizations. Some of the causes that
could benefit include the conservation
of the rain forests, Greenpeace, and
Hugo relief fund.
Wednesday, April 25: 3:30-
5:30 p.m. Plant Trees in the
commuinity. Live music on the quad.
Thursday, April 26: Fast meal
of soup and bread, with donations going
toward environmental concerns. More
planting of trees during the afternoon.
All week tong: signing petitions to
help protect Antarctica.
Some polls show an increased
amount of interest in concern for the
environment. Executive director for
Earth Day 1990 is Christina Desser.
She says, "As much as anything. Earth
Day is about setting a climate for
change." The Earth has limited resour
ces and such an environmental
movement makes the "whole Earth
spirit of the late sixties seem bom
again.
In the Eighties, environmentalism
was not as valuable as in the present and
past. There was, instead, an era of
conspicuous consumption for the sake
of business. The Nation's natural
resources were exploited.
The Smithsonian says that abusing
nature is virtually causing all
environmental problems. Rolling
Stone says, "The point of Earth Day is
to make the environment a mass
movement again. Organizers want to
baptize a new generation of activists."
National coordinator for the first
Earth Day and chairman of Earth Day
1990, Denis Hayes, says the number
one issue for the movement today is
global warming. Global warming is
generated fundamentally when carbon
dioxide is sent forth by burning fossil
fuels. One solution would be to cease
the use of oil, coal and nuclear energy in
the next 25 years. That would mean
one of the most omnipotent economic
benefits in the world, the fossil-fuel
industry, would have to engulf a
tangible slice in its gross income for the
next few decades. Currently, the
environmental movement is not durable
enough to denounce this industry.
Whatever h^jpens on Earth Day 90,
Brevard College students will have a
chance to join in that mass movement
Whether it will be remembered 20 years
from now as another genesis for this
generation remains lo be seen.
Appreciation
Somehow I've never wondered
What tomorrow would be like
Without powers.
Never again
A sign of spring,
Only rain
And colorless flatlands.
The beauty of a blossom
Shows life and
Prosperity — the
Promise of hope
And a future.
— Sarah Fish