{"id":121886,"date":"2020-04-22T08:09:31","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T14:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=121886"},"modified":"2020-04-25T10:37:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T16:37:25","slug":"50-years-from-first-earth-day-celebration-uccs-continues-commitment-to-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=121886","title":{"rendered":"50 years from first Earth Day celebration, UCCS continues commitment to environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
The UCCS Farm during summer. Photo credit: Savannah Waggoner.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Earth Day, 50 Years Ago<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are all familiar with famous \u201csit-ins\u201d from American\nhistory. In 1960, African American college students staged a sit-in at the\nWoolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina to advocate for racial desegregation.\nIn 1936, workers at a General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan staged a\n“sit-down” strike seeking union representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in 1970, to celebrate the nation\u2019s first Earth Day, UCCS\nfaculty and students organized an \u201cenvironmental teach-in\u201d \u2013 a university-wide\nseries of lectures, panel discussions and films, all focusing public attention\non local issues of environmental quality, contamination and nonrenewable resources.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cragmor<\/a>
An article from the 1970 Cragmor Newsletter promotes UCCS’ participation in the nation’s first Earth Day. Photo credit: UCCS Archives. Read the full newsletter.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Faculty, staff and students blanketed campus \u2013 then only in its fifth year of existence \u2013 with calls to action. The campus newsletter called for volunteers who would contact local high schools and community leaders to seek their participation in the teach-in. Volunteers circulated literature about environmental reforms around Colorado Springs. The bookstore created a special collection of books highlighting issues around the environment, population and pollution for students to reference in the teach-in. Some classes even had students read “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson’s book about taking on the pesticide industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Earth Day 1970 was in the midst of an activist society, with the Vietnam War and protests going on,” said professor of chemistry and biochemistry Al Schoffstall, who was in his third year of teaching when he helped to organize the first Earth Day celebration at UCCS. “Earth Day fit in as an activist activity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, archival records of the Cragmor Newsletter show that the student body published a list of goals for Earth Day at UCCS in a special newsletter edition, many of them reflecting the activist society of the time. Among them: \u201cTo make a beginning, to raise questions\u2026To catalyze the public\u2019s growing concern for the environment and future of mankind, manifest a determination to commit energies and talents, and lend support to those with the will and power to act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/a>
Two articles from the 1970 Cragmor Newsletter promote UCCS’ participation in the nation’s first Earth Day. Photo credit: UCCS Archives. Read the full newsletter.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Professor Jackie Beyer, who helped to found the geography and environmental studies department at UCCS, led the small faculty body in drafting plans for the campus\u2019s teach-in event. She invited Ken Boulding, a professor of economics and a peace activist from CU Boulder, to visit UCCS and speak about environmental efforts. Schoffstall recalls that the talk was well-attended, “and probably the highlight of our Earth Day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyer also spoke to the campus Cragmor Newsletter to advertise the teach-in and associated Earth Day Events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The campus is the focus,” she remarked, “but the goal is involvement of all those who want information about local situations and who want to participate in the long-range and continuing program designed to declare a truce in the war on nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She continued, \u201cWe all breathe the same air and depend on\nthe same earth for survival. We, not some other \u2018George,\u2019 must do the job.\nThere is talent here, there are specific local problems here and local concerns\nand we have a contribution to make to the whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earth Day, Today<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 is widely seen as the\nbirth of the modern environmental movement. And 50 years later, UCCS continues to\nanswer the call for environmental and sustainable progress. From constructing new\nbuildings according to strict energy efficiency standards, promoting renewable\nenergy sources and locally grown food on campus and empowering the UCCS\ncommunity with funds for sustainable innovation, UCCS continues to stand for\nsustainability in all its forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And though Earth Day will look a little different this year\nthan 50 years ago \u2013 especially given stay-at-home orders from local and federal\ngovernments \u2013 there are still opportunities to celebrate Earth Day at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
UCCS’ Sustainability Demonstration House at 12 Cragmor Village Road models sustainable practices that can be translated to homes and offices.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Office of Sustainability at UCCS invites all Mountain\nLions to participate in its Earth\nWeek activities<\/a>, from virtually touring the Denver Botanic Garden and\neating plant-based foods for a day to gathering items to donate to local\ncharities. Faculty, staff and students can also take a 30-minute\nSkillsoft course<\/a> that highlights how to take 10 simple actions to support\nsustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, in the words of Jackie Beyer, we all breathe the\nsame air and depend on the same earth for survival \u2013 and there is talent here,\nlocal concerns to address and a contribution we can all make to the whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Interested in learning more ways to celebrate the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of Earth Day? Reach out to the Office of Sustainability or visit its Earth Day website<\/a>. View a gallery of archival records<\/a> from UCCS’ first Earth Day through the Kraemer Family Library<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1970, the fledgling UCCS campus celebrated the nation’s first Earth Day with an “environmental teach-in” to educate Colorado Springs about local issues. 50 years later, UCCS continues its sustainable legacy. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":121888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[44,143,332,89],"class_list":["post-121886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","tag-administration-and-finance","tag-facilities-services","tag-more-news","tag-office-of-sustainability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_2929-1-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-vHU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=121886"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122079,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121886\/revisions\/122079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/121888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=121886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=121886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=121886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}