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EARTH Wednesday
April 22DAY
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Peacock shows plumage in life book, film and grizzly study
By Graham K. Johnson gjohnson@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Doug Peacock is bringing his war to the University of Kansas.
Peacock, author, filmmaker and environmentalist, will speak at 7 a.m. in the Kansas Union ballroom about his war to protect wildlife, particularly the grizzly bear. The speech, "Where grizzlies and bison once roamed," is the centerpiece of Earth Day activities. KU Environ, other campus organizations, the biology and English departments and area business are sponsoring the speech.
Jason Daniels, Colby junior and KU Environs co-coordinator, said Peacock's lecture should appeal to everyone from committed environmental activists to those only interested in grizzly bears.
"With his experiences, he can give everyone an idea of what grizzly bears are like in their natural habitat," Daniels said.
Peacock, a former Green Beret, has spent 20 years in the wilderness tracking grizzly bears, Daniels said.
Peacock wrote "The Grizzly Years—In Search of the American Wilderness," a cult classic within the environmental movement. He also filmed a documentary called Peacock's War.
Andrea Repinsky, Olathe junior and KU Enviros co-coordinator, said Peacock's unique study of wildlife and his battles on the front lines of the environmental movement had made him famous among fellow activists
"He's a legend within the environmental community," Repinsky said.
But that should not scare away people who are less involved. Daniels said.
"It's important for everyone who's been to a wildlife park and never gotten out of the car to hear the lecture because he's been into the back lands and can tell you what it's like." Daniels said.
Denise Woods, El Dorado junior and a member of Students for Wildcare, said she was going to the lecture to learn more about Peacock.
"I've heard he's pretty inspirational." Woods said. "I'm going to see what he's all about."
Daniels said there would be a reception and Peacock would sign books following the lecture.
SUA plants Earth Day awareness
Today's activities tie global concern to local action
By Marcelo Vilela
mvilela@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Student Union Activities will celebrate Earth Day today with a speaker and an open house.
All activities are free and will take place in front of the Kansas Union. If it rains, activities will be moved to the Union lobby. SUA will offer free lemonade.
Charles Benjamin, legislative coordinator for the Kansas Natural Resources Council and the Kansas Sierra Club, will speak from noon to 1 p.m. Benjamin will talk about how
students can think globally and act locally.
"I'll talk about what I see going on around the state and in legislation," Benjamin said. "Legislators have a lot of pressure to keep environmental legislation to a minimum, but people can improve their environment. You should have a concern about global warming, but there are things happening in Kansas everyday that affect the food we eat and the water we drink."
In addition to Benjamin's speech, SUA will have a station for making hemp necklaces and bracelets and a planting station where students can plant wildflowers and prairie grass.
An exhibition of recycled art also will be in front of the Union. Students will select the best entry by ballot, and the winner will receive a cash prize.
"I don't know what it's going to look like," said Kielyn Scott, Wichita
junior and SUA special events coordinator, "but in my imagination, I expect something like aluminum cans and used paper recycled into art."
An acoustic guitar jam session will set the tone to the activities from 10 a.m. to noon and from to 1 to 2 p.m. John Orcutt, Hutchinson senior and SUA live music coordinator, said SUA always had music on Earth Day, but this year the music would be acoustic instead of amplified.
At 11 a.m., students and SUA staff will plant flowers in a flower bed outside the Kansas Union.
Student groups such as KU Environs, All About Hemp, Sierra Club, Biology Club, Amnesty International and Habitat for Humanity will set up information tables at the plaza.
"It's a unique event because lots of student groups are involved," Scott said. "We're hoping for a big turnout." SUA has been collecting aluminum
SUA EARTH DAY
10 a.m.
Acoustic guitar session
11 a.m.
Noon
Charles Benjamin, speaker
1 p.m.
B flower planting outside the Kansas Union
Acoustic guitar session
All activities will be in front of the Kansas Union
cans, clean blankets and towels throughout the week, Scott said. The blankets, towels and the money from the cans will be donated to the Humane Society of Lawrence.
Partisan debate quieted, not silenced
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The shrill partisan rhetoric disputing environmental regulations, a hallmark of the Republican revolution three years ago, no longer echoes on Capitol Hill. There are no more calls to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power or to gut the Endangered Species Act to protect landowners.
But the abandonment of frontal assaults on environmental regulations does not mean congressional Republicans are ready to embrace President Clinton's top environmental priorities.
From a package of tax cuts and incentives to address global warming to new efforts to clean up the nation's waterways and purchase new parkland, the Clinton environmental agenda is being blocked at every turn on Capitol Hill.
Marking Earth Day today, Clinton plans to highlight his frustration with Congress about that agenda during a visit to the Appalachian trail.
maintain the disputes simply involve disagreements about spending priorities as well as serious doubts voiced by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers about the global warming agreement the administration agreed to last December in Kyoto, Japan.
Republican congressional leaders
The president's five-year, $6.3 billion package of incentives to promote energy efficiency and give tax breaks for more fuel efficient cars and buildings, an early effort to address global warming, is all but dead.
Examples of the disagreements:
A highly touted clean water initiative to address agricultural runoff into lakes has been blocked for lack of money. A proposed $568 million never made it into the Senate budget and faces trouble in the House.
More than $300 million approved last year for nearly 100 purchases of federal land for parks and refuges is in limbo concerning a disagreement about how the money should be spent.
- Another $650 million, earmarked by the EPA to speed Superfund site
cleanups also is not being financed. Lawmakers are refusing to reinstate a Superfund tax until the controversial law is revamped.
"Congress has learned to be more surreptitious," said Rodger Schilkeiseisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "There's not as much chest beating. Now, they're being much more cautious in their approach. But there's still an anti-environment agenda."
The administration projects a similar view. "This is a stealthier Congress, but it's plain they have the same agenda," said Wesley Warren, the White House Council on Environmental Quality's deputy chief of staff.
Congressional Republicans, both moderates and conservatives, scoff at such criticism.
"Sure there's still an anti-environmental agenda, but it's essentially a handful of people who shout the loudest," said Sherwool Boehlert, R-N.Y., a moderate supported by most environmental leaders.
"There's no doubt in my mind there's
a heightened sensitivity to environmental issues," continued Boehler. He blames the administration for not pushing some environmental issues, such as Superfund reform, more aggressively.
Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that deals with public lands issues, contends the administration wants to spend too much money on new land purchases at the expense of dealing with a backlog of repairs.
"They've sent up their wish list," Regula said. "But you've got to take care of what you have."
"This Congress is not anti-environmental," insisted Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., whose appropriations subcommittee deals with the EPA's budget.
For example, he says, the clean-water plan would require states for the first time to require pollution permits for large hog and cattle feedlots. Approval of the administration's $568 million request for the clean-water program is uncertain, even though much of that money would go to states. Lewis says.
Think Globally Act Locally
Earth Day Open House April 22,1998 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Kansas Union Lobby
Participating Groups:
Amnesty International, Biology Club, Environs, Environmental Studies Student Association Habitat for Humanity, All About Hemp, Humane Society, Kansas & Burge Unions, PAL Sierra Club, SUA, Wild Care and more!
Activities:
Free Lemonade • Recycled Art Contest (drop off your entries at the SUA offices by 5 pm April 21. prizes will be awarded) Acoustic Guitar Jam Session Drawings & Specials in all Union Departments • Free Wild Flower & Prairie Grasses Seed Planting Station Free Hemp Necklace Making Station • Help Us Plant Flowers Outside The Kansas Union Starting at 11:00 a.m.
Aluminum Can, Blanket & Towel Drive to Support the Humane Society of Lawrence （drop off your aluminum cans, clean towels & blankets at the SUA Box Office, Kansas Union, or the KU Bookstores, Burge Union, April 20 - 24)
Charles Benjamin Ph.D., JD
Legislative Coordinator for Kansas Natural Resources and the Kansas Sierra Club will present a lecture that will define student involvement in today's environmentalist movement. Please join us for this unique event. Sponsored by the KU Bookstores. Time: noon - 1 p.m. Place: Kansas Union Plaza or Lobby
Free Hemp Necklace Making Station & Wild Flower & Prairie Grasses Planting Station
20% Off
Wilderness Discovery
Camping Equipment Rental
April 20 - 26
Drawing for a lb. of Trail Mix
Candy Bars & Granola Bars
2 for $1.00
30% Off Recycled Products & Sierra Club Cards
Enter to win a 15 speed Women's Mountain Bike April 20 - 24
UNIONS
Drawing for a Case Of Sprite
1/2 Price Veggie Burger Only $1.00
864-3477 • www.ukans.edu/~sua
Enter A Drawing to Win a Case Of Sprite
Enter A Drawing to Wn a $15 Gift Certif. to the Prairie Room Veggie Sandwich Special 1 Off Salad Bar
FOOEES