THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008
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FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008
NEWS 3A
ENVIRONMENT
Lawrence to hold Earth Day parade
BY MARY SORRICK msorick@kansan.com
A parade down Massachusetts Street and celebration in South Park will launch the Earth Day festivities in Lawrence on Saturday.
Earth Day, which falls on Tuesday, is an internationally recognized day designed to bolster environmental movements around the world. The parade and South Park Earth Day Celebration will be the most public of a series of environmentalthemed events that have taken place in April.
Brian Sifton, Kansas City, Mo., senior and president of KU Environs, said the parade would begin at 11 a.m. from Seventh and Massachusetts streets, and include floats, cars and people walking with signs and banners. Lawrence environmental organizations such as the Sustainability Network and Critical Mass will participate along with the local chapter of the Sierra Club and nonprofit groups such as Van Go Arts.
Immediately following the parade, the 8th annual Lawrence Earth Day Celebration will begin in South Park and last until 4 p.m.
The parade will end at 11th and Massachusetts streets, in front of South Park.
The event, which is sponsored by the City of Lawrence Waste Reduction and Recycling Division, will feature live music, food and exhibits about a wide array of environmental issues, such as alternative fuels, habitat preservation and green gardening.
Cassandra Ford, waste reduction and recycling specialist for the city, said the Earth Day Celebration was geared toward all ages.
"We want to make it fun and educational," Ford said. "We try to make it as all-inclusive as possible."
Ford said more than 55 exhibits would be available for visitors to peruse, compared with 34 exhibits last year. She said she expected this year's Earth Day Celebration to be the largest one in the event's 8-year-
Earth Day events
April 21 - Local foods dinner and panel discussion, 6 p.m. at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries. Local organic greens will accompany a panel discussion with Gary Nabhan, author and ethnobotanist, and Rhonda Janke, professor of horticulture at Kansas State University
April 22 - Earth Day recess, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
on the Stauffer-Flint lawn.
Activities such as inflatable games, basketball and frisbee art along with free drinks will be available for students to enjoy the outdoors between classes.
history.
April 22 = Lecture: "Geography of Food Endangerment: Strategies for Renewing America's Food Traditions";
7 p.m. in Spooner Hall. Gary Nabhan will speak about endangered foods.
While visitors browse the various exhibits, Lawrence radio station Lazer 105.9 FM will broadcast from South Park, followed by live performances from local bands Big Stack Daddy, Uncle Dirty Toes and Edward Grenuo.
Face painting, games and a caricature artist will also be available for families. Ford said.
"We've covered our environmental bases in terms of who we got to come out," Ford said. "There should be a topic that just about everyone can relate to."
Saturday's Earth Day events are free and open to the public.
—Edited by Samuel Lamb
MENTAL HEALTH
Study measures troop depression, head injuries
BY PAULINE JELINEK ASSOCIATED PRESS
Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker said the report, from the Rand Corp., was welcome.
WASHINGTON - About one in every five U.S. troops who have survived Iraq and Afghanistan now suffers from major depression or post-traumatic stress, an independent study said Thursday. It estimated the toll at 300,000 or more.
About half of those with mental health problems have sought treatment. Fewer of those with head injuries have seen doctors.
"They're helping us to raise the visibility and the attention that's needed by the American public at large," said Schoomaker. "They are making this a national debate."
The researchers said 18.5 percent of current and former service members contacted in a recent survey reported symptoms of depression or post-traumatic stress.
Nineteen percent — or an estimated 320,000 — may have suffered head injuries, the study calculated. Those range from mild concussions to severe, penetrating head wounds.
"There is a major health cri
sis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Terri Tanielian, the project's co-leader and a researcher at Rand. "Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation."
The results of the study appear consistent with mental health reports from within the government, though the Defense Department has not released the number of people it has diagnosed or who are being treated for mental problems.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said this month that its records show about 120,000 who served in the two wars and are no longer in the military have been diagnosed with mental health problems. Of those, about 60,000 are suffering from post-traumatic stress.
Col. Loree Sutton, who heads a Pentagon center on brain injury, said officials have been working to add thousands more mental health professionals to help the others struggling to meet the demands of troops and their families. Across the services, officials are trying to hire over 1,000 additional staff. Also, companies providing health care by contract to the Pentagon have added over 3,000 in the past year, and the U.S. Public Health Service has provided some 200, she said.
Forty-eight hours on the street
》 ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK
Program gives students homeless experience in Washington, D.C.
A group of six KU students sleep in front of the Martin Luther King Library during spring break in Washington, D.C. The students were spending 48 hours homeless as part of the Homeless Challenge for alternative spring break.
BY ANDREW WIEBE awliebe@kansan.com
Contributed photo
Katie Hill and Ryan Campbell were hungry. After wandering around Washington, D.C. by foot with only a bologna sandwich to tie them over, the $1.13 that their group of three had collected pan-handling that day certainly wasn't going to be enough to satisfy their hunger.
In the end, Hill, a Wichita senior, Campbell, an Olathe junior, and Brittany Wolfe, Kansas City, Kan., junior, settled for a McDonald's double cheeseburger split among the three of them and a night spent sleeping on the streets.
The experience was just one of many a group of seven KU students will remember the rest of their lives after spending 48 hours on the street while participating in the Homeless Challenge during spring break.
Campbell said he assumed that they would just be ignored by passersby, but he was surprised
Participant living exactly as a homeless person would, sleeping on the street, begging for food and money and attempting to find work despite lacking a home address, as part of the KU Alternative
Participants spent a 48-hour
People that society had written off were the only people that cared. Other people wouldn't even give you the time of day."
Break program. Though seven began the 48-hour period on the street, only four continued after the first day. The others opted to end their period of homelessness early.
Hill said she felt uneasy about the potential danger initially, but that she never felt scared or threatened during the two days she spent homeless. The most eye-opening part of her experience was the hatred and disgust people exhibited toward her, contrasted by the way fellow homeless people treated her, she said.
"People that society had written off were the only people that cared." Hill said about the warmth and caring shown by others living on the street. "Other people wouldn't even give you the time of day."
by the severity of their treatment by strangers. He said the aspect of the trip that would stick with him was the realization that money and material possessions weren't necessarily the
route to happiness, especially after experiencing the hardships that thousands go through every day with no end in
with no end in sight,he said.
"You are cold, you are tired and you are hungry," Campbell said. "It's absolutely miserable, and we knew we only had to be there for 48 hours."
be tiring, Campbell said. For ever more insulation against the near freezing temperatures,the group was forced to forage for newspaper and cardboard in dumpsters and trash receptacles.
Other than
"Dumpster diving is exactly what you think it would be," Campbell said. "It smells really terrible, and you get really filthy. You just dig until you actually find something."
Sarah Rosa, Homeless Challenge Project director, said the program offered Homeless Challenges for students as well as politicians who wanted to know how their policy decisions affected the homeless. She said the program provided a safe environment in which to
"You are cold, you are tired and you are hungry.It's absolutely miserable,and we knew we only had to be there for 48 hours."
Other than feeding themselves, the group faced sleeping on the pavement both nights. Participants were allowed to bring a sleeping bag, though carrying it with you all day could
RYAN CAMPBELL Olathe junior
ing on the streets of Washington. D.C., who makes sure they are safe at night and carries a cell phone in case of emergency.
get a taste of street life, and that nobody had been hurt in the 20-odd years of the program's existence.
The groups are paired up with a guide, usually someone who has experience liv-
Rosa said the goal of the pro-
statistics
Top five cities with the
meanest streets in America
1. Sarasota, Fla.
2. Lawrence, Rah.
3. Little Rock, Ark.
2. Lawrence, Kan.
4. Atlanta, Ga.
5. Las Vegas, Nev.
Source: National Coalition for the Homeless
Five states with highest homeless population
1. California - 177,727
2. New York-69,930
3. Florida - 62,229
4. Texas - 49,242
5. Michigan-25,736 (Kansas has 5,082)
Source: March 2008 Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
gram was to show the human side of homelessness so people can see just how difficult it is to survive on the streets.
"They are doing something willingly that millions of homeless people don't," Rosa said. "No one ultimately chooses to be homeless."
Edited by Jared Duncan
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