Every April 22nd we celebrate Earth Day. Information about UWW’s Earth Day conference on April 22nd and other campus events is online.
The federal government’s earthday.gov web site has suggestions for things you can do at home, at work or in the classroom. The Environmental Protection Agency provides a history of Earth Day, which was proposed by Gaylord Nelson, then U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, and first celebrated in 1970 (the same year the EPA was created). The web site includes listings of major U.S. environmental legislation and links to articles and reports related to Earth Day history.
Library resources are available for more information:
A keyword search of the Library catalog for “earth day” finds some materials that could be used with children, as well as Gaylord Nelson’s 2002 book Beyond Earth Day: fulfilling the promise (3rd-floor Main Collection, GE195 .N45 2002). Some materials are government publications, including State of Wisconsin’s natural resources (Wisconsin documents NAT 1/2:S 73/2001).
Catalog searches for other keywords find additional related materials. A search for environmentalism, for example, brings up the book Blessed unrest: how the largest movement in the world came into being and why no one saw it coming (3rd-floor Main Collection GE195 .H388 2007). Here’s a quote from it:
“Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act. It is a massive enterprise undertaken by ordinary citizens everywhere, not by self-appointed governments or oligarchies.”
A keyword search for “environmental policy” finds titles like The economics of climate change: the Stern Review (3rd-floor Main Collection QC981.8.C5 G738 2007) and First along the river: a brief history of the U.S. environmental movement (3rd-floor Main Collection, GE195 .K578 2007).
Articles are also available through Library databases such as EBSCOhost’s Academic Search Premier and WilsonWeb’s General Science Full Text. In the latter database, for example, a search for environmentalism finds “Where the Green is: examining the paradox of environmentally conscious consumption,” an article in Electronic Green Journal. In both of these databases results may be limited to scholarly/peer-reviewed articles if desired.
Finally, you can locate organizations and their websites by using the Associations Unlimited database. A search for earth day finds Earth Day Network, and many other organizations.
The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!
Check road conditions ahead of time. The Wis. Dept. of Transportation’s 511wi Travel Information web site can provides a map showing driving conditions on interstates and other major highways in Wisconsin, info on work zones, links to traffic cameras and congestion maps for Madison and Milwaukee, and links to weather sites. Other states may have similar sites, e.g., Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan (or MI Drive.
