Earth Day at SSU Honors Historical Traditions

Earth Day was started in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson of New York. Frustrated by the lack of attention focused on environmental issues, Nelson was able to persuade President Kennedy to do a five-day conservation tour through eleven states. When the 1963 tour proved unsuccessful at moving the nation, Nelson’s efforts continued at planting the seed that slowly budded into Earth Day.
In giving nationwide talks regarding environmental degradation, Nelson found that many citizens expressed concern for the state of the environment, even though the politicians did not. Six years into his environmental crusade, he was inspired by the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called "teach-ins," that had spread to college campuses all across the nation. These college protests were what gave Nelson the idea to organize a massive grassroots protest, calling attention to the status of the environment and pushing the issue onto the political agenda. In the spring of 1970 Nelson called for the first nationwide grassroots demonstration, and all were invited to participate. Word spread across the country like pollen at springtime, and in April of 1970 a national day of observance was held to address environmental problems (http://earthday.envirolink.org/history.html). To the great national response, Nelson expressed his delight in saying:
“Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself”

On April 22nd the sun shined over Sonoma State University’s annual Earth Day celebration. Thirty four years later, over 100 Sonoma State students and faculty continue in Senator Nelson’s cause. Paying tribute to the Earth, students rallied to draw attention to the ever-increasing need for environmental awareness. Earth Day at Sonoma State had a large number of tables out, filled with different organizations there to promote and support earth day. The event also served to kick off the start of Raza and Native American Heritage Month.
Each organization had its own unique view on how they contributed to Earth Day. The Join us in Making Progress or JUMP table did its part by encouraging people to sign a pledge that they would recycle. The JUMP team distributed free, reusable water bottles in an effort to cut back on the amount of disposable water bottles wasted.
The Sonoma Water Shed Project and the Friends of Copeland Creek are two more earth-friendly groups that participated by getting the word out to the public about the need to utilize native vegetation in place of exotic plants. Both organizations gave information on how to plant native plants in one's garden, as well as other ways of working toward a more sustainable ecosystem.

The New College of California attended the Earth Day celebration to promote its recent Santa Rosa addition to the 34 year old accredited school out of San Francisco. This Unique College is dedicated to the education of its students in the areas of social action and Environmental awareness. Michael McAvoy, the Dean and Academic Vice President of the College put it best by saying, "When Rush Limbaugh is complaining about our college offering a degree in Activism, then you know you’re doing something right in education."

Along with other activist groups and their primarily environmental agendas, the Green Party was out in full force at the Earth Day event, handing out information on the proposed Instant Runoff Voting system. In this method of voting, a voter's mark is calculated along with their second and third election choices. If no majority winner is found in the first election, a second election is not held. Instead the runner up or “runoff choices” are recalculated to find a winner. Since the democratic system could be greatly influenced by this change, Green Party representatives sought to get this information to the public.
Amongst the hustle and bustle of Earth Day participants, a crowd gathered around two owls brought to the event by volunteers Marc Riffle and Jesse Smith of the Bird Rescue Center of Santa Rosa. Riffle and Smith took the time to answer questions about the young Western Screech Owl, as well as the twenty-year old Great Horned Owl who perched on his arm. Riffle has volunteered at the center for many years now, and was there to recruit other volunteers for now through August or September. Riffle says this is the Bird Rescue Center’s “busy season.” With baby birds needing to be fed every two hours, it’s no wonder that the Rescue Center is open 365 days a year, requiring 175-200 volunteers per week.
As Senator Nelson said years ago, Earth Day was a grand success due to participation at the local level. Young and old alike need to take the time to get involved in even small scale environmental affairs, letting our voices be heard. Respect for our Earth and its limited natural resources should extend beyond our annual day of tribute and pledge to recycle. There are many ways to get involved, such as community service organizations and animal rescue centers. How can you help your Earth today?