Page Two--Student Activities THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday. September 2. 1970 Page Two-Student Activities THE MICHIGAN DAILY 50,000 participate In 'U, environmental teach-in By DAVE CHUDWIN If anyone in the University community was not aware of the environmental problem be- fore last March 10-14, they are aware of it now. During those five days, this campus received one of the most massive dos- ages of environmental educa- tion ever to be unleashed in this country. Sponsored by Environmental Action for Survival (ENACT), a March environmental teach- in drew an,, estimated 50,000 people from all over the United States to over 125 rallies, dis- cussions and panels. The distinguished guest-list included experts from a num- ber of environmental fields, as well as speakers such as Sen.; Edmund Muskie, Arthur God- frey, anarchist Murray Book- chin, aild Dow Chemical Corp. President Ted Doan., The teach-in opened March 10 with a number of workshops. That same day, an overflow crowd in Hutchins Hall heard environmental lawyer Victor Yannaconne outline his $30 bil- lion suit against DDT manu- facturers. At noon the next day, an automobile was tried and exe- cuted in a mock trial on the Diag after testimony from wit- nesses such as "Dr. Sigmund Ford" and "Rob . Rockyfeller." The car was hacked to death by cheering students with sledge-hammers. Afterwards, students t e m- porarily dumped more than 10,000 soft drink cans on the lawn of the local Coca-Cola bot- tling plant to protest the use of non-return cans. That night over 13,000 people attended the formal kick-off rally for the teach-in at Crisler Arenia, listening to Sen. Gaylord Nelson call for financial, social and ethical changes to meet the environmental crisis. Other speakers included gene- ticist James Shapiro, Arthur Godfrey, Gov. William Milliken, ecologist Barry Commoner and President Robben Fleming. On March 12 over 30 work- shops on specific environmental problems were held on campus while an environmental t o w n- meeting was held at Pioneer High School. Ralph MacMullan, director of the state natural resources com- mission, called over-population our gravest threat there while actor Eddie Albert warned that man would not be the first ani- mal to become extinct if he keeps poisoning his environ- nent., Also on the program were a number of other local, state and federal officials who said that government would only move on the problem if there was strong public support. Over three-dozen workshops were held the next day followed by a panel on the causes of pol- lution featuring an address by Muskie. The Maine Democrat express-. ed concern that the environ- mental crisis would be used as "a smokescreen" to obscure issues. He called for a strategy to protect the total environment, warning against the "poisons of hate and fear that divide us and set us against each other.". Departing from his prepared. text, Muskie presented his vis- ion of "a whole society, rich in the .diversity of its people, rich in their potential," an outpost of life on a fragile planet. Much of the diversity men- tioned by Muskie was evident in the noisy audience of 2,500 that overflowed Pioneer High School's auditorium and gym- nasium, where a closed-circuit television carried the speeches of Muskie and other speakers. None of the speakers escapedr some heckling, with the late president of the United Auto W o r kers, Walter Reuther, and -Doan bearing the brunt of it. The verbal riot continued intermittently throughout the four-hour marathon program. Guerrilla theatre presentations attacking Dow were given out- side 'the auditorium before the program began. Muskie described the Ameri- can people as the most powerful establishment environmentalists have to face and asked students to undertake the challenge of "enlightening them, motivating them and getting them to act." Admitting that change within the system is often slow, he said that within his lifetime he has seen attitudes change on issues such as abortion. At a noon rally that, same day, ecologist Hugh fltis said that environmental reform is important- because man has a basic need for wilderness and nature. "Wilderness preservation is for man's sake," he said to a. crowd of about 1,000 people. "We have to save the flowers 1 because man needs them for his -Daily-Dave Schindel ENACT literature: Give earth a chance Chemical Corp. President Ted Doan, claimed it can. "Technology can solve these problems," he explained. "Our standard of living is based on technology. We have opened up Pandora's box and cannot close it." Others, typified by Ralph MacMullan, state natural re- sources commission director, be- lieve such hopes are false. "I read a quote from a presi- dent advisor saying that tech- nology can take care of this," MacMullan said. "That's a lot of hogwash." * A s s u m i n g environmental problems can be cured, who should pay for it? The federal government, - corporations and the American people were three sources of money suggested by different experts. Ralph Nader urged that cor- porate profits be used to fund anti-Pollution research and de- velopment. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, among others, recommended that the federal government pay to clean up the environment' through reordering its p r i o r i t i e s. He called for immediate expendi- tures of $25 billion per year on the environment. Another solution was offered by state Rep. Raymond Smit who suggested that taxes and the cost of living might have to rise as much as ten per cent to stop pollution. * Can the present political system be repaired to handle environmental decay or are moreradical changes needed? Separating the liberals from the radicals, this question was one of the most controversial of the teach-in. "I think you can fight with- in the system and make it re- spond," commented Reuther. "There will obviously have to be some restructuring through the political process." Others ; called for broader changes. "The only solution for the people is to/take back their country and industries," Sha- piro said. "And that means making a revolution." Author Murray Bookchin ar- gued that it is impossible to live in harmony with the natural world, with America's present hierarchical, competitive so- ciety. He said that ecological action must be revolutionary or be nothing at all. *" How effective is govern- ment in the fight to save the environment? Most of the poli- ticians defended their efforts while others were critical. "I don't think government has been locking horns with this matter the way it should," Ed- die Albert said. C. C. Johnson, head of the De- partment of Health, Education and Welfare's environmental health service, claimed that public apathy is the reason why government has not taken more affirmative action against pol- lution. Taking a similar stand, Mayor AF physiological and e m o t i o n a 1 health." Iltis, a University' of Wiscon- sin professor, told the rally that genetically, the man of today is almost the same as the Nean- derthal man of 50,000 years ago, and even similar to the pre- human apes from which modern man developed two million years ago. f "You are genetically condi- tioned not to Ann Arbor or to Chicago, but to the African veldt from where you developed," Iltis explained. "We need our evo- lutionary companions in na- ture." Iltis also discussed the harm to the environment which he said was caused by pollution and man's exploitation of natural resources. He..said that pollut- ants haveneffects on children that do not show for many years. "Look at yourselves," he told the crowd. "You look -like a bunch of asparagus shoots- white, pale and sickly." During the final day of the teach-in, consumer crusader Ralph Nader told a capacity crowd in Hill Aud. that the pub- lic should be increasingly con- cerned about "corporate viol- ence." That night, a panel dis- cussion on man's survival- and a speech by Gary Mayor Gordon Hatcher closed the event. Throughout the teach-in a few basic questions kept coming up, eliciting radically different answers from teach-in guests. Never resolved, these six is- sues lie at the heart of the en- vironmental problem: " Who, or what carries the main share of responsibility for pollution and environmental decay? Corporations, t e c h- nology, the American people, capitalism and the frontier ethic were a few of the culprits accused by teach-in partici- pants. "Why do we have a pollution problem?" a s k e d geneticist James Shapiro at the kick-off rally. "It's because the corpora- tions make a profit of pollu- tion." "Pollution is an intrinsic feature of the very technology we have developed," environ- mentalist B a r r y Commoner countered later. "Our techno- logy is enormously successful in producing material goods, but too often it is disastrously in- compatible with the natural en- vironment." "The problems of the world are not caused by science or technology but by man," dis- agreed the late United Auto Workers President Walter Reu- ther another night. The next day Gary, Ind. Mayor Richard Hatcher took a similar position, describing all Americans as "co- conspirators" Capitalism was the target of ecologist Richard Levins "Only under' capitalism are human skills a commodity and waste necessary," Levins explained Sen. Edmund Muskie gave a different analysis, placing the blame on the frontier ethic. "The frontier ethic helped us build the strongest nation in theworld," Muskiessaid. "Bud it also led us to believe that our natural and human resources were endless." " Can technology over-come the problems of pollution? Some teach-in speakers, such as Dow Senator Muskie speaks at teach-in Robert Harris said no public of- ficial would vote for higher tax- es or attack powerful economic interests without strong public support. r Finally, is the environ- mental crisis obscuring other is- sues such as poverty, racism and the Vietnam war? Hatcher, for example, charged that the issue is taking the nation's attention away from the problems of discrimination, "something not even a Bull Connor or George Wallace could do. Muskie also expressed concern that the anti-pollution crusade not "become a smokescreen that will obscure the overall crisis of life in America." Disagreeing with this view, Commoner said there are defi- nite links between' pollution, the war and the problems of blacks and warned against be- lieving people who claim they are separate. Ecology programs continue TIRED OF STUDYING? Relax With a Good Book BROWSE OVER OUR 20,000 PAPER BACKS WAHR'S UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE 316 S. STATE ST. (Continued'from Page 1) the land to our air, water and dumps," said William Kopper of the Ecology Center. The drive was so successful that the glass company agreed to set up a permanent collec- tion point in the city for re- cycling glass. ENACT hopes to turn this in- to a recycling center where peo- ple can bring discarded alum- inum cans, paper and scrap metal as well as glass. Staffed by full-time w o r k e rs and ENACT volunteers, the drive- in center would pay nominal sums of money for the scrap material. "Every time someone brings in glass it represents a change in attitude," ENACT co-chair- man Toby Cooper said, explain- ing what he thought was the reasoning behind the project. "It means that people are think- ing about what they can do to maintain the environment in- stead of how to use it." ENACT has also been at- tempting to change attitudes of business corporations. T h e group gave enthusiastic support to Campaign GM, an effort led by associates of Ralph Nader to force General Motors to be more responsible to the public. In April, representatives of ENACT met with the Regents and urged them to vote the Uni- versity's share of GM stocks in support of Campaign GM. The Regents, stating they did not want to take sides in a polit- ical dispute, decided to do noth- ing and the University's shares were voted by management. Following up this effort, ENACT presented to the Regents in June a plan for a committee that would advise the Univer- sity on the corporations in which it invests. The committee would guide the University investment of- fice away from owning stock in corporations it feels contributes to pollution and other social problems. The committee would also advise the University on voting its shares during stock- holders meetings. The Regents took no action on the proposal but asked the EN- ACT representatives to s e n d them further information on corporations and their relation- ship to environmental problems. "This will be a continuing ef- fort because things like this take time," Kingwill says. "You don't affect the Regents over- night." But with the deans of the law T. RENTALS $10.50/mo. NEJAC T.V. 662-5671 a n d business administration schools opposing the plan, in addition to the business back- ground of many of the Regents, it is unlikely, there will be quick changes in University invest- ment policies. Through graduation and loss of interest, a number of the group's top leaders have left. In addi- tion, support from, the student body has declined, especially over the summer months, from pre-teach-in levels. ENACT leaders, however, are confident that they can con- tinue as an on-going organiza- tion and predict an upswing in student interest this fall. Two paid full-time co-chairman and two part-time secretaries are helping with the task. Support from the community, especially from high school stu- dents and housewives, remains enthusiastic. A group of women have recently formed an organ- ization called Consumers for ENACT and have held a number of coffee meetings to discuss the environment. "Our basic concept is you go through several steps before taking environmental action," Kingwill says, explaining EN- ACT's philosophy. "You have to go through awareness to con- cern and then leap the final hurdle that leads from concern to action." "Our goal is to Bush for a better world," he adds, summing up the mission of ENACT and the difficulties it faces in the struggle for a decent environ- ment. I,!-- j, -- -- - = a (( I! I!I', ( I. !.. -I around in , ; Ir ,. i! 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