Earth Week Mobilizes Campus

From farming talks to marshland tours, students are organizing green opportunities to recognize Earth Week. Calvin DeWitt, shown leading a past class through Waubesa Marsh, has a field trip planned April 22 through the unique Dane County preserve with residents of Bradley Learning Community. Bradley’s environmental committee will also create a “trash sculpture” outside the residence hall to encourage people to think about what we throw away.

The student group UW Greens and several campus units are co-sponsoring events of the Dane County Earth Week Coalition. Jim Hightower, former Texas agriculture commissioner and current progressive radio talk show host, will speak about agribusiness and the plight of family farming on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the State Capitol Rotunda, as part of the Earth Week kickoff. Campus groups are also sponsoring two talks by Cecilia Rodriguez, a leader of the Zapatistas movement fighting for economic self-determination in Mexico. Her first talk, “U.S.-Mexican Relations in an Age of Crisis,” will be held Monday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in 2650 Humanities. A second talk at 7 p.m. Tuesday, titled “Chiapas: Women and the Zapatista Uprising,” will be held in Great Hall of the Memorial Union. For more Earth Week events, contact UW Greens at 262-9036.