Posted on April 12, 2007
JMU will host its first Earth Week from April 16 to 22 with a series of activities and events aimed at informing the JMU community about environmental issues.
Earth Fest 2007 is a collaborative effort of EARTH, Clean Energy Coalition and UPB.
“I hope Earth Fest will banish the ‘I’m just one person mentality,’” freshman Annie Cantrell said. “People should realize that little differences can make a huge difference in communities and families. ”
Fellow EARTH member Barbie Spitz agreed.
“I want to teach others about what issues are out there and what they can do to help,” she said. “I’m not in it for a blurb on my resume or even for the social aspects of the club. I’m just trying to protect our environment and make a just world.”
The week is packed with events aimed at informing the JMU community of what it can do to help the environment.
“I think that if everybody dives in, Earth Week could really open peoples’ eyes to the impact humans have on their environment,” sophomore Marley Green said.
Highlights of the week include a community light bulb exchange sponsored by Wal-Mart on Wednesday, a 3-D visualization theater presentation of the earth on Thursday and a community bike ride on Friday.
“The community bike ride is an effort to promote alternative modes of transportation,” Cantrell said. “It is also a fun way to bring the community together.”
EARTH and its fellow supporters will also host speakers on various environmental issues.
“All the speakers we’re hosting have something really important to say — everything from how coal companies put children’s lives in danger, to corporate-political ties and their effects on the environment, to where our energy comes from and what to expect from the future,” Spitz said.
“We need to know how all these things affect us and what we can do about it.”
Earth Week will culminate with a community earth festival on Saturday on the Festival lawn and a tree-planting event on Sunday.
Saturday’s festival will include performances by Soldiers of Jah Army, Midnight Spaghetti and Blue Method.
EARTH hopes to include the JMU community in all of its activities and recognizes that the whole community must be involved in order to make a joint effort to change.
Specific issues that will be discussed include sustainable farming in the Shenandoah Valley, the Harrisonburg trash incinerator and the use of green energy at JMU.
“I think that each speaker is going to be amazing, but especially Jack Spadaro on Thursday,” Green said. “He will talk about toxic coal waste that is actually stored in giant ponds between valleys, and what happens when it gets into people’s water. It’s a really powerful story of community strength, corporate-government corruption and people’s power to move forward.”
EARTH, Clean Energy Coalition and UPB urged the JMU community to take action during Earth Week and every week.
“People, very much including myself, need to be consistently reminded that our one people and planet have never been at this crossroads before,” sophomore Nick Melas said.
Spitz said, “We’ve only got one planet, so we’ve got to take care of it.
