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Diag events kick off Earth Week

Enchanted Iris sang on the steps of the Graduate Library, students tossed athletic shoes into a basketball hoop and a student recruited people to participate in a letter-writing campaign against Mitsubishi. All of these activities yesterday helped to mark the first day of Earth Week.

The Michigan Student Assembly Environmental Issues Commission is organizing the event in conjunction with the student group Environmental Action. This is the first year ENACT has helped to coordinate Earth Week with MSA.

"We haven't been able to make Earth Week as big as we wanted (in past years)," said Bryan Theis, chair of the commission. Theis said the commission's small size and weak ties with campus environmental groups have hampered previous Earth Weeks.

"For the past two years, Earth Week has almost been nonexistent," said Angie Farleigh, a facilitator for ENACT.

In past years, Earth Week festivities did not include events on the Diag. "(The events) weren't things that were visible," said Ami Grace, a facilitator for ENACT.

"We've tried to make the Diag our emphasis (this year)," Grace said, referring to the attempts to make Earth Week more visible to students. "We figured this would be the best thing because students can't miss it."

Organizers also have tried to increase the number of student groups involved with Earth Week. "We invited all groups to help, not just environmental groups," Farleigh said.

Each day has a theme under the overall Earth Week topic of education. Yesterday was Rainforest Day and today is Environmental Justice Day.

As part of the festivities, a band will perform at noon each day on the Diag. "We're having a band every day who donated their time to us," Farleigh said.

Letter-writing campaigns also will take place each day on the Diag. Yesterday, SNRE junior Alison Cady asked students to write letters of protest to Mitsubishi, a logging company that logs in South America and southeast Asia.

"We have them provide the letter, and then we address and stamp the envelope," Cady said. The table also provided information about the company.

Nike participated yesterday with its reuse-a-shoe display. Students had the opportunity to shoot baskets with post-consumer athletic shoes. For every basket made, Nike donates money to Nature Conservancy, a local environmental organization.

Bill Malloch, Nike reuse-a-shoe marketing manager, said he is keeping a "rough estimate" of the number of baskets made.

"We're going to estimate high on our donations," he said. "(We'll donate) several hundred dollars, which will be more than the number of baskets made.

"This is just kind of for fun," Malloch said.

LSA sophomore Geoff Talmon said the Nike display was an interesting way to raise money.

"I was just walking through and I saw people throwing shoes at a backboard," he said. "I thought it was an interesting way to raise money, so I decided to give it a try."

However, members of ENACT said turnout for all of the events was low due to the cold weather and the protest by the Graduate Employees Organization, which kept some students at home.

"I think it's because it's so cold no one is staying," Farleigh said. "The rest of the week (as the weather warms), hopefully people will be hanging out more on the Diag."

Cady said only three students participated in the letter-writing campaign in the hour she had been at the table. "So far it's gone pretty slow because of GEO," she said.

Farleigh agreed the GEO work stoppage contributed to the low turnout. "So far it's gone pretty slow because of the strike."