Ahh, Madison in the springtime. There is a beautiful lightness in the air and everything is fresh and new again. Simultaneously, small changes are occurring all over the campus and city. Sandals are making their reappearances, and winter boots are being shoved, not a moment too soon, into the back of closets. The trees are beginning to grow buds that will soon bloom into beautiful flowers.
People seem to come out of the woodwork; to sit on the terrace, to lie on Bascom Hill, to devour an ice cream cone or sip an iced coffee, or to play frisbee with a friend. At this particular time of year, many of us begin to praise the earth once again, rather than spitefully curse the cold and the snow. How fitting that Earth Day is just around the corner.
Tuesday, April 22 will mark the 33rd annual Earth Day. Many people do not know that Earth Day was founded not too long ago by Wisconsin native Gaylord Nelson.
Nelson was born in Clear Lake, Wis., and came to UW-Madison for law school. He went on to serve as a state senator for 10 years and as the governor of Wisconsin for four years. He then became a member of the U.S. Senate in 1962. He served for three terms and became the leading environmentalist in the U.S. Senate.
Nelson had the idea and got many others across the nation involved in implementing, the first Earth Day April 22, 1970.
About 20 million people across the country participated in the first annual Earth Day.
\He thought that if he could rally enough support for that day, he could make it a national/political issue,"" said Tom St. Clair, public information manager for the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. The IES on campus was renamed after Nelson last year.
Students, faculty, staff and community members celebrated the first Earth Day all over campus.
""There was a tremendous teach-in that day,"" remembers Professor Calvin DeWitt of the IES department, who was here on sabbatical from the University of Michigan at the time.
One could walk from building to building and hear many different specialized lectures from various professors.
""It was a time for everyone to learn,"" DeWitt said. ""The day was very enabling-it allowed you to do good things for yourself.""
This year is no different-there are many Earth Day events going on across campus.
The Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group is organizing a big event on Library Mall.
""We want to promote awareness of Earth Day,"" WisPIRG intern Beth Rulans said.
About 20 different student organizations will be set up on the mall to provide information tables and various activities.
""Everyone is supposed to have a special Earth Day message to get out,"" Ruland said.
Also in attendance will be local bands, speakers on various topics and local businesses with environmental messages. Representatives of the Special Olympics will be ""recycling"" old cell phones, while the Campus Vegetarian Society will be giving away free vegetarian and organic food throughout the afternoon. The Wisconsin Environmental Jewish Initiative will be selling trees to be planted in Israel.
Along with participating in the Library Mall event, the Sierra Student Coalition will be holding a demonstration on Bascom Hill on Earth Day. The group is bringing in stumps from logging companies and will disperse them on the hill.
""We want everyone to understand the destruction that old growth and national forest logging can do,"" UW-Madison senior Deidre Peroff said.
The Adventure and Environmental Education Club will be holding a Science Night on Earth Day at a local elementary school. It is doing a series in a kindergarten class this spring to lead activities that teach the students about the environment. Their first lesson was on chimpanzees.
""We at least get them interested in the topic, and go from there. Hopefully they'll remember it when they get older,"" Tyler Hammer, a fifth-year senior, said.
""I think it is kind of hard for people to realize their impact on the Earth unless you bring it to their attention,"" UW-Madison junior Beth Surfus said. ""Garbage disappears into the landfills, we have flush toilets-we are not forced to live with anything that we create.""
There are many more student organizations around campus and in Madison that focus on various aspects of the environment. Many of those organizations will be present at the Library Mall event. They can also be found through the student organization office Web site, http://www.studentorg.wisc.edu.
For more Earth Day fun, direct your web browser to http://www.earthday.org. The Earth Day Network's slogan is ""Who says you can't change the world?"" At its Web site, one can read up on facts and statistics about the Earth and the environment and about many different ways to make a difference.
""I think every day should be Earth Day,"" graduating senior Maggie Anderson said.
If you wholeheartedly agree with Anderson, or even if you do not, get out and participate in one of the many events going on this Earth Day. Help celebrate, restore and sustain the Earth, our one and only home. It brings us springtime in Madison.
