Gustavus Blogs

Earth Day! Exhibit & Resources

—

by

ahulsebe

April 21st is Earth Day at Gustavus! In addition to participating in the campus-wide celebration, you can visit the library’s climate change exhibit and find resources about Earth Day and environmental issues.

Climate change exhibit: Stop by the Library’s GLA Reading Room to see Taking Action on Climate Change, a traveling exhibit from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. It highlights efforts to address climate change and illustrates the effects it is already having in Minnesota.

Did you know that the first Earth Day at Gustavus took place on April 22, 1970? Here’s how it was described in the 1970 Gustavian yearbook:

Earth Day: 4/22/70. Earlier in the spring Gustavians took a day off to participate in a day devoted to study of environmental problems. The college also set aside this day for the reading program discussion groups. Lectures on the problems of pollution and population were given throughout the day in both Alumni Hall and the Canteen. At the same time some of the students went into the St. Peter Community with petitions asking the national broadcast networks to devote a day’s broadcast time to the statement of the environmental problem. Some professors felt that the problem required less discussion and more action and therefore took their reading groups on clean-up campaign[s] through the Nicollet County countryside. Earth Day activities at Gustavus were also related to the larger national Earth Day activities. Students helped finance pro-environmental campaigns by buying the National Earth Day button.

Looking for more information related to environmental issues?