Earth Day

"The quality of our environment must be improved - everyone in government and on campus is saying that these days. Earth Day at Dartmouth intends to make significant inroads toward that improvement."

Thus William H. Schlesinger '72 explained the purpose of Dartmouth's participation in the nationwide environmental teach-in, Earth Day, scheduled for April 22. Schlesinger, from Cleveland, Ohio, is coordinator of Earth Day activities as well as chairman of the Dartmouth Outing Club's Environmental Studies Division (ESD).

"The rallies and dramatic displays which many college groups have planned for Earth Day are great - they graphically illustrate our ravaged surroundings," Schlesinger said. "But in this part of the country, most people are already aware of the perilous course modern society forces nature to follow." With that in mind, the ESD plans a day of intense environmental action focussing on two areas: household ecology and nationwide issue mobilization.

"There are a host of things the average person can do to prevent environmental erosion if he only knew it. We aim to inform a large proportion of the Hanover-area population of the dangers of such household goods as aerosol can pesticides, certain detergents, and bleached paper," Schlesinger explained. "There are also a large number of residents of the Upper Valley who recognize such widespread ecological problems as overpopulation and industrial pollution. We plan to set up channels for citizens to inform themselves of these matters and how to make a contribution to solving them."

Earth Day activities will be kicked off on April 21 with keynote speeches by Robert Dennis of the Potomac Basin Center in Washington, D. C., and John Brownell, an environmental attorney from Montpelier, Vt. The following morning students and faculty will lead campus-community workshops on the topics of Population Problems and Control, Environmental Ethics, Household Ecology, Waterway Pollution, and Industrial and Economic Development. Participants in the workshops will move into the community in the afternoon in an effort to show residents what they can do to arrest the trends that threaten human existence.

The Thayer School is also planning a program of activities for Earth Day, focussing on the role engineering can play in environmental improvement.

"Our major aim in staging Earth Day," Schlesinger concluded, "is to show that the problems that the President, the Congress, and the nation are talking about are indeed serious enough that someone has to start doing something about them. We hope our actions will start a mobilization of pressure for an immediate and a significant amount of governmental and fiscal, in addition to rhetorical, commitment toward improving the quality of our environment."