UP FRONT
SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE
Special to The Jewish News
R
achel Stevens can not
remember the origi-
nal Earth Day, April
20, 1970, when an estimated
20 million people joined to af-
firm the need to heal the
earth, an earth increasingly
tarnished by human activity.
Sosh Oleinick, Linda
Rosenfeld, Juliette Cher-
buliez, Amy Sabin, Jodi
Goldman and Kyle Bettigole
can not remember Earth Day
either.
They were babies in 1970.
"Twenty years have come
and gone and environmental
problems have grown, affec-
ting the very air we breathe
and the water we drink," says
Stevens, 21, a history major
at the University of
Michigan.
Stevens and the others, all
Jewish, are on the eight-
member Earth Day 1990
Steering Committee which
has been feverishly planning
a broad array of U-M campus
events for the week of April
2-7.
"This is a critical decade,"
says Stevens. "We hope with
Earth Day 1990 we can
revitalize interest in the en-
vironment."
Waking Up
Just In Time
It's been one of those days.
The car broke down. The
kids got in trouble at school.
The boss was unhappy with
your latest project. The dog
bit the mailman. Your
mother-in-law announced
she's coming for a visit — a
six-week visit.
Sounds like you need
Charlie Brown.
Psychiatrist and author
Rabbi Abraham Twerski,
and "Peanuts" creator
Charles M. Schulz, have
joined forces to produce a
book that shows how every-
one can use the 12-step pro-
gram, pioneered by
Alcoholics Anonymous, to
overcome human foibles and
everyday problems.
Illustrated with cartoons
of Charlie Brown, Lucy and
the rest of the "Peanuts"
gang, Waking Up Just in
Time is geared to helping
individuals correct
misperceptions of reality,
make an optimum adjust-
ment to reality, achieve an
"I think people (especially
those on campus) care a lot,"
notes Sabin. "But people
don't know what to do." As
with the first Earth Day, the
planners hope it will serve as
a call to action as well as
education. "We don't want
people to feel hopeless," says
Stevens.
Scheduled events include
the continuous showing of the
film The Thinking Ark, a
technology fair, a not-for-
profit flea market called "Use
It Again Sam," and a Green-
ments, faculty and staff are
contributing. "I see the
university as being a great
resource center," says Bet-
tigole, an English major who
has also been taking courses
at the School of Natural
Resources. Adds Stevens, "We
have a muti-disciplinary ap-
proach. It's not just biolo-
gists." Engineers, philoso-
phers, lawyers, theologians,
business faculty and repre-
sentatives from technology
companies are all on the
Earth Day agenda.
Seven of the eight
planners of the
Ann Arbor event
are Jewish.
Although the experts will
present the facts and figures,
the students have a perspec-
tive born as much from the
heart as the head. Much of it
comes, they say, from their
Jewish background.
"I think Judaism cultivates
a sense of community and
values," says Bettigole. "It
develops a sensitivity to
others by way of the environ-
ment, by realizing that one
must be responsible for one's
actions for they can be
detrimental to others."
Oleinick, who is working
towards a degree in solid
waste management — "I've
always liked garbage," she
says — hopes to use her skills
when she makes aliyah after
graduation.
fair featuring businesses that
offer products and services
that are ecologically sound
and socially responsible.
There will be dozens of
seminars, workshops, teach-
ins and panel discussions. As
in 1970, consumer advocate
Ralph Nader and en-
vironmentalist Barry Com-
moner will visit the campus
and give key addresses.
Although the U-M ad-
ministration has not formal-
ly involved itself in the ac-
tivities, many U-M depart-
Dan iel M. Rosen
Jewish Consciousness Involved
In Michigan Earth Day Revisited
U-M's Earth Day committee: standing , Jodi Goldman, Juliette Cherbuliez,
Rachel Stevens, Linda Rosenfeld, Kyl e Bettigole; kneeling, Sosh
Oleinisk, Amy Sabin and Yuman Lee.
She points to the land-based
kibbutz movement and the
importance of Tikkun Olam.
"The concept of fixing he
earth, that's something so in-
tegral to Judaism," she says.
Stevens and Sabin mention
the influence of their families.
"My parents always stressed
the need to make this world
a better place," says Stevens.
Sabin recalls that at her bat
mitzvah her parents asked
the guests to donate trees to
Israel instead of giving gifts
to their daughter. "At the
time I didn't really unders-
tand it," says Sabin. Now she
does.
Even before she got involv-
ed in Earth Day II, Sabin was
active with campus projects
designed to make more people
aware of the need for recycl-
ing. In an attempt to get U-M
to ban styrofoam, she and
others erected a styrofoam
pyramid on the Diag.
"The Egyptians built their
pryamid 2,000 years ago (sic)
and it's still standing; our
styrofoam will be here 2,000
Continued on Page 14
ROUND UP
MERE NE COMES
AGAIN...
EVERY DAY THIS SENIOR
CITIZEN WALKS 6Y, AND
WHEN WE SEES ME, WE
EOES,'WOOF WOOF'
I ALWAYS WONDER
WI-IAT IT IS ME
THINKS ME'S SAYINS
A cartoon from Waking Up Just in
Time
accurate self-appraisal, rid
oneself of character flaws
and help others who have
similar problems, Rabbi
Twerski said.
Send A Book
To Soviet Jews
The Chicago Action for
Soviet Jewry (CASJ) has in-
itiated Project Sefer,
through which individuals
may send books and tapes to
Jewish families in the Soviet
Union.
For a tax-deductible gift of
$18, the CASJ will mail
books and tapes of Jewish
interest to a Soviet family.
In addition, the CASJ will
affix a bookplate in the
name of one being honored
or memorialized.
Books and tapes are
selected according to re-
quests placed by the Soviet
Jews; families to whom the
material will be sent are
chosen at random.
To send a book, mail an
$18 check to the Chicago Ac-
tion for Soviet Jewry, Project
Sefer, 555 Vine Ave. Suite
107, Highland Park, IL.
60035, or call (312) 433-0144.
Arabs Investigate
Pro-Israel PACs
The Washington-based
Arab American Institute is
conducting a study of pro-
Israel political action corn-
mittees (PACs), some fin-
dings of which are expected
to be released this week.
The study will include an
analysis of 1983-89 contribu-
tions by pro-Israel PACs and
how they influence voting
behavior; a preview of 1990
pro-Israel PAC contribu-
tions; an examination of
"the pro-Israel 'fat cats' who
fund the PACs and direct
them"; and a preliminary
analysis of the role "big
money plays in legislation
and in shaping the foreign
policy debate on Middle East
issues," according to an AAI
report.
"Too many (House and
Senate) members are either
PAC'd or afraid and, as a
result, Arab Americans have
been locked out of electoral
politics one too many times,"
said AAI Executive Director
James Zogby. "It is my hope
that our research will shed
much needed light on this
abuse of our democratic
system and generate some
movement for reform."
Federation Meets
With Arafat Aide
Los Angeles — Fifteen
leaders of the Jewish Fed-
eration of Greater Los
Angeles joined in a meeting
with Khaled al-Hassan, a
top aide to Palestine Libera-
tion Organization leader
Yassir Arafat and a co-
founder with Arafat of the
Fatah terrorist organization.
The meeting was organiz-
ed by Stanley Sheinbaum,
who met with Arafat last
year in Stockholm.
The Jewish weekly The
Heritage reports that among
those attending the meeting
with Hassan were Marcia
Volpert, chairman of the
Federation's Jewish Corn-
. munity Relations Council;
Rabbi Harvey Fields, chair-
man of the JCRC's Commis-
sion on the Middle East; and
Hebrew Union College Pro-
fessor Gerald Bubis.
The Heritage also reports
that Sheinbaum took
Hassan to meet with editors
of The Los Angeles Times,
the RAND Corporation and
members of the Center for
international affairs at the
University of California at
Los Angeles.
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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