CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, October 4, 1994
3A
Activist walks the miles for earth's sake
Environmental issues prompt Englishman to trek 4,200 miles
Bv Paul Todd
Submitted by Amy Trainer
Special to the Kansan
Pictured from left to right, Amy Trainer, president of KU Environs; Paul Coleman; long-distance training, Terry Huerter, Katherine Smith and Chris Foster.
Through towns and over mountains, he walked. Across deserts and major cities, he trekked for miles and miles and months and months. One trip he took was 8,000 miles long. The one he is on now is only 4,200 miles long
It is Paul Coleman, an environmental activist who is walking from San Francisco to Sarajevo, where he will plant a tree April 21, 1995, the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. The trip, which began May 15, will be about 4,200 miles long.
No. this is not Forrest Gump.
Every day that Coleman walks he plants a tree signifying his philosophy of peace through restoration of nature and man's place in it. Friday he planted a tree near Topeka and spoke in Lawrence at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries. 1204 Oread Ave.
His trip is being sponsored by the World Federalists Association, but Coleman's accommodations usually are donated by the people he meets.
"It will be a big moment for me when I get to Sarajevo and plant a tree," he said. "You get on your knees, take the树 and put it in the ground." It's a very basic act, like a prayer. You are actually giving a living being to the Earth."
Coleman, who is from Manchester,
Enland, walks 20 to 25 miles a day.
"Sometimes I take a light day for a
week" he said. A light day is 15 miles.
rest," he said. A light day is 15 miles. At the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 16 people waited for Coleman to come speak after his walk from Topeka.
Coleman said he became inspired to spread his message in 1988. He'd had enough of the people in Canada, where he was living at the time. He decided to go to Iceland and bicycle around the fiery island nation. He said he felt that it was here that he first came into touch with nature. He could fill up his water bottle and drink straight out of it, something he would never do in the Kansas River.
He sat there for two hours and thought of the creation of life on earth from this rock, and a fairy tale began to unfold.
Coleman arrived about eight minutes late. He was slightly sweaty and tan. He was wearing a short-sleeved plaid button-down shirt, big-pocketed denim pants and Nike Air Mada hiking shoes. His hair was simple but looked weathered.
A few days before he was to leave Iceland, Coleman decided to go for a walk. It was raining hard. Being a little depressed, he didn't mind. He came to a tear in the land where the new volcanic rock gave way to mosses and lichens.
"I had a vision there," he said. "I saw a beautiful world. It had people and trees but no roads or buildings. And the people were intensely happy. But
when I saw this beauty, what came immediately was the ugliness."
Coleman said he looked south and said to himself, "My God. How am I going to save the Amazon?"
The journeys of Paul Coleman had begun.
---
"I tell people," he decided. "And I'll write fairy tales like the one I saw."
He quit his job in Canada as a personal assistant to a wealthy friend of Queen Elizabeth.
On Coleman's first walking trip, which took place between 1990 and 1992, he walked 8,000 miles from Toronto to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, spreading his fairy-tale message to everyone he met.
But Coleman's message is simple. Its not about publicity or media or
recognition.
Coleman said he would like more people, especially in war-torn places, to understand his message. After his trip he is going to return to California to concentrate on his writing and hopes to see his tales on the movie screen one day.
"The act of planting the tree is most important, not that it's noticed," Coleman said.
"If we can remember that we need to live with the earth when we are doing things like revolting, we can change things," Coleman said. "We don't have much time. I'm not a doo-sayer. I'm just a person who's traveled around the world for 25 years and is saying 'Look out. We can change this.'"
Suicide note posted in library causes concern
Kansan staff writer
By David Wilson
A suicide threat posted in Watson Library last week had some library employees wondering whether the note was left by a suicidal person or a student with a bad sense of humor.
The note, which was posted to a bulletin board on the second floor of the library, read: "Help Help Help Help Help. Plan to jump off from 6th fl. of KS Union on Sept. 29. If you know any reason why I shouldn't. Please leave comments below."
Such threats should be taken seriously, said a counselor at Headquarters, 1419 Massachusetts St., a crisis counseling center.
"I would say that any time a person posts something like that, you should never write it off as a joke," the counselor, who did not want to be identified. "I would take it seriously."
The counselor said no person claiming to have posted the note had called Headquarters.
Employees of the Watson Library acquisitions office next to the bulletin board said they had not seen anyone post the note.
By Sept. 30, five responses were written below the note.
The first three responses were flippant: "Because your medical bills would swamp an already overburdened health care system," "Because
somebody would have to clean up the mess. Think of them if not yourself" and simply "Because."
One response was serious:
"Because someone wants to listen/talk to you: 841-2345. Because it's a permanent solution to a temporary crisis."
The phone number listed is the number for Headquarters.
The last response written below the note said: "Life gets much better as I get older. Stick around and see if it does. Reconsider your desire in 20 years."
Library administrators said library bulletin boards were considered public access areas and that posted items were not usually monitored or
taken down because of their content.
But Nancy Jaeger, assistant to the dean of libraries, said she would make an exception in the case of a suicide threat.
"If I walked by and saw it, I would pull it down and do some serious questioning." she said.
KU police last week said they had not gotten any calls about a person threatening to jump from the sixth floor of the Kansas Union.
"This is the first we've heard of it," said Sgt. Chris Keary. "If we had the note, we'd look into it as much as possible."
Keary said the lack of a name on the note would make investigation difficult.
CAMPUS BRIEFS
University of Kansas ranks 17th as one of the nation's most affordable universities
Kansan staff report
Despite rising tuition at the University of Kansas for the past few years, U.S. News and World Report ranked the University as a "best value" among national universities in its Oct. 3 issue.
KU was ranked 17th out of 25 national universities considered to have a good "sticker price," meaning average tuition and expenses. KU's sticker price was $10,766.
Another 25 national universities were listed as having a good "discount price," meaning tuition and expenses minus the average discount from need-based grants.
To determine a university's value, the magazine looked at both cost and quality of education.
Chancellor Den Skakel said he was happy with the ranking.
"I'm really pleased that an important publication like that recognizes that
KU is still a good bargain for students and parents,' he said.
Two other schools from the Big Eight made the sticker price list. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln ranked 15th with a sticker price of $9,100, and Iowa State University ranked 18th with $10,936.
The best value on the sticker price list was the University of Texas at Austin with $9,507.
KU is still a good bargain for students and parents," he said.
The best value on the discount price list was the California Institute of Technology.
Wetlands issue topic of open forum
Kansanstaffreport
The complicated and contentious issue of the Baker and Haskell Indian Nations University wetlands will be the subject of an open forum tonight.
The forum, which will be conducted at 7 tonight at the Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union, is being sponsored by KU Environs and the Student Political Awareness Task Force.
Speakers will include Roger Boyd, biologist at Baker University; Chuck Haines, professor of biology at Haskell, Gerry Schimuk, a regional Environmental Protection Agency agent; and students from Haskell.
Amy Trainer, president of KU Environs, said the event would begin with a slide show of wetlands and continue with a question-and-answer session.
"Your Book Professionals"
Jayhawk Bookstore
"At the top of Naismith Hill"
Hrs: 8-6 M-Th., 8-5 Fri.
9-5 Sat. 12-4 Sun.
843-3826
AROUND the WORLD in 100 DAYS
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Wednesday, October 5
Informational Table — Kansas Union 9 am to 3 pm
or call toll free: (800) 854-0195 — any day
Video Presentation — Kansas Regionalist Room 6 pm to 7 pm
Former Shipmates — Please Come
Women of Color:
What do you like about yourself?
What do you like about yourself?
Do you let the media and society determine your self-image?
This workshop will focus on understanding and improving the way we think and fall about ourselves.
Tuesday, October 11, 1994
Pine Room, Kansas Union
7:00 p.m.-9:p.m.
Barbara W. Ballard, Director Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center
Sponsored by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, 115 Strong Hall. For more information, contact Renee Speicher at 864-352 350
IF YOU WANT TO MAKE IT IN THE REAL WORLD, SPEND A SEMESTER IN OURS.
walt Disney World Co. representatives will be on campus to present an information session for Undergraduate Students on the WALT DISNEY WORLD Spring '95 College Program.
WHEN: TUESDAY, OCT. 11 AT 7:00PM WHERE: FRONTIER ROOM-BURGE UNION
Attendance at this presentation is required to interview for the Spring 2015 College Program.
Interviews will be Wednesday, October 12.
The following majors are encouraged to
attend: Business, Communication,
Recreation/Leisure Studies and
For more information contact University Placement Center
Phone: 864-3624
Walt Disney World Co.
Where students spend a semester getting
ready for the rest of their lives.
© The Walt Disney Co. an equal opportunity employer
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