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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1999)
Earth Day Earth Week continues with music, talk The events will spark DIALOGUE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT By Lauren Howry lor the Emerald This year, the Survival Center has put together a jam-packed week full of music, speakers, films and oth er events to celebrate Earth Day today. The Survival Center, which was established in 1970 to en courage awareness of social justice and environmentalism, has been involved with cele brating Earth Day since it began the same year. Last year, the center organized a day-long music festival to celebrate the occasion. This year, the Sur vival Center has extended Earth Day into a week-long cel ebration. “It has been a learning expe rience putting together such a large event, but these events should be educational and should bring people together,” said Doug Serrill, who is one of this year’s Earth Week coordi nators. Earth Day was originally es tablished to give people around the world an opportunity to re flect on increasingly dire envi ronmental problems and to join together to take action to pre vent and reverse damage done to the environment. Earth Day is also a time to “reconnect humans to nature and our true selves. In putting together Earth Week, we hope to create an environment where students can learn, have fun and meet people. The em phasis is on creating communi ty, or at least improving it,” Serrill said. The Survival Center has scheduled multiple events for each day of Earth Week, which began on Monday. Today, several events will take place, including a cere monial tree planting to estab lish a migratory bird corridor greenway through campus, and a presentation by Bob Beisser on endangered species in the EMU Ben Lin der Room. At 7:30 p.m., the film “The Lorax,” based on the Dr. Seuss story of indus trial destruction of the earth, will be shown. Finally, on Friday the Re newal Energy Fair will be held all day in the EMU Am phitheater. The fair will in clude performances from King’s Soul Project, Honey Bee Groove, FLYNN and SOULAR. Every home in Eugene has hot water, but how many have water that’s heated by the sun? 700! That’s because solar works, and its saving home owners 40 - 65% on annual water heating costs. Check it out through participating contractors! Now, you can purchase a solar water heating system and receive up to a $600 cash discount and take advantage of our zero interest loans. As a bonus, the State of Oregon offers a tax credit of up to $1,500. That’s one hot deal! THE BRIGHT WAY" TO HEAT WATER Eugene Water A Electric Board Call these participating contractors for information: Energy Service Co. 302-6808 Oregon Solar and Water Inc. 344-1594 Solar Assist 338-4957 Summer Solar Systems 683-4014 2B Oregon Daily Emerald Thursday. April 22,1999 .vmmm —___—_A nm Catharine KendaWV.memkt Richard Wiget examines hemp fabric on a fabric rack in Sow Much Hemp on 13th Av enue. Hemp can also be used to make rope, twine, lighting oil, paint and paper. Hemp’s many uses can help to protect the environment Despite the plant’s ILLEGALITY, ITS PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE By Sam Giaconi lor the Emerald ^ | " he United States elected to ban hemp in 1937. But in -L spite of this, a report by two respected and influential journals labeled hemp the No. 1 agricultur al resource in America. The report, published in 1937 by Popular Mechanics and Me chanical Engineering, was titled “Billion-Dollar Crop,” and it pre dicted a bright future for hemp. It predicted hemp would bring eco nomic prosperity to America. Thousands of new products could be created from hemp, the report said, bringing an end to the Great Depression and creating millions of jobs. In addition to the popular press, other U.S. groups were talking about the potential of hemp. In 1938, the U.S. Department of Agri culture said if machinery were in vented that was capable of har vesting, stripping and separating the fiber from pulp, hemp could be America’s No. 1 farm crop. Hemp still cannot be legally grown in America today — most of it is imported from China and Eastern Europe — but its benefits are becoming better known. “Hemp is the best material there is for making paper,” said Bruce Mullican, owner of Sow Much Hemp, a Eugene store that special izes in hemp products. “Studies have shown that four times as much pulp per acre can be ob tained with hemp than from trees. “And because hemp plants grow so quickly, companies can get this kind of production every year, instead of once every 65 years with trees.” Today, experts estimate that, if fully restored in America, hemp industries will generate $500 bil lion to $1 trillion per year and will save the planet and civilization from fossil fuels and their deriva tives— and from deforestation. Besides benefiting the environ ment, hemp has the potential to help treat different illnesses that people suffer from, Mullican said. According to a new book, “The Emperor Wears No Clothes,” cannabis, the Latin species name for hemp, contains more than 60 therapeutic compounds that can be used as healing agents in med ical and herbal treatments. The primary compound used for med ical treatments is known as Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC has been found to treat more than thirteen different disabilities ranging from asthma to epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, back pain and muscle spasms. Besides therapeutic uses for cannabis, it can also be used to make rope, twine, lighting oil, paint and fabric. And paper made from cannabis lasts 50 to 100 times longer than the paper made from trees, Mullican said. While Mullican and others who sell hemp products would like to see it legalized, it does not look as if that will happen any time soon. Since 1970, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Justice have been destroying every hemp plant they have found in the United States. Mullican said the plant is either chopped down or poisoned when it is destroyed, and this takes away habitats from animal species. “Over 99 percent of the hemp that the government has destroyed was not cultivated by humans,” Mullican said. “The DEA report ed to the government that the plant they were chopping down was marijuana, but most of the cannabis they were destroying was natural habitat, and it would have been used to make medical products, not marijuana. “The problem is that the DEA does not delineate between the two when they destroy hemp.” NEWSROOM — ^46-SSll Editor in chief: Ryan Frank Entertainment Nicole Garton, editor. Jack Clifford, Bryan Petersen Freelance: Ashley Bach, editor. Copy Desk: Jennifer Shinen, Rich Dirks, copy chiefs. Monica Hande, Amy Horton, Stephen Paler mini, Tom Patterson News Art: Matt Garton, editor. Kelly Berggren, Leigh-Ann Cyboron, Katie Nesse, graphic designers. Scott Barnett, Amanda Cowan, Nick Medley, photographers. Catherine Kendall, George Rowe, Jeff Stockton, Kristen Sullivan, photo techs ADVERTISING — 346-3712 Becky Merchant, director. RacheHe Bowden, Leigh-Ann Cyboron, Brian Dia mond, Dan Hageman, Doug Hentges, Andrew Lakefish, Amy Ruppert, Erick Schiess, Emily Wal ldC6 BUSINESS — 346-5512 General Manager Judy Riedl Business: Kathy Carbone, business supervisor. Judy Connolly, receptionist Distribution: Jason Flemming, John Long, Charles Scholes, ZachTessmer PRODUCTION — 346-4381 Michele Ross, manager. Tara Sloan, coordinator. Joselyn Bickford, Nicole Garton, Sarah Kidder, Laura Lucas, Katie Nesse, Brandt Nelson, Broc Nel son, Laura Paz, Gabe Silverman
