Pulse Editor
Jacquelyn Lewis
jacquelynlewis@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, April 22,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
On Thursday
Take a vacation
from worrying with
"Roadtrip Nation."
Vegetarians curb
fecal conditions,
immoral industry
Joseph Bechard
Edge Culture Columnist
It’s friggin’ Earth Day — that exciting one-day event when
a few people make a futile effort to persuade others to think
about the environment. I’m sure this day, since the first-rec
ognized Earth Day 33 years ago, has changed the way some
people think about their impact on our
world. But from where I see it, it’s not
working that well.
Let’s use my pathetic life as an example.
I’m a vegetarian and, apparently, that’s
amusing stuff.
It happens a couple of times a week.
Some guy whose car is lined with Carl’s Jr.
burger wrappers or whose teeth are pep
pered with Taco Bell Gorditas, tries to
poke holes in my logic. I guess it’s easier
to make fun of the guys with morals.
The stupid insults about my manhood
or intelligence don’t work. I know I’m an
idiot. But I’m a compassionate idiot, and
no one can make me feel bad for giving a
damn. Especially when none of them even bother to under
stand why I made this choice.
This first assumption is that I do it for health reasons. Peo
ple love to chide me when they catch me doing something un
healthy. While I’m sure mankind is aching to keep my hot bod
around as long as possible, I think I have a better reason.
I chose vegetarianism because, for me, it’s pious. It is a con
stant manifestation of ethics and an agreement with the cos
mos. It says to whatever god may be out there that I respect
what I have and am willing to make a sacrifice for a greater
good. I recognize the inhumanity of this industry and peoples’
decisions to ignore it. By avoiding the stinking, putrid and be
deviled flesh of improperly raised animals, I have a couple rea
sons for feeling better about being a disgusting human.
First, I’m boycotting an exploitative and sickening industry.
The federal Animal Welfare Act and most state anti-cruelty laws
don’t protect farmed animals. Because of this, many of these
animals endure agonizing and painful lives before they ulti
mately become our food, soap and makeup. These animals live
in confined and fetid environments — anyone with the stom
ach for it should check out the “Why Vegan?” link at www.veg
anoutreach.org. Under these horrible conditions, animals are
pumped with antibiotics and hormones and are handled with
an utter lack of respect.
Vegetarianism is also an act of minimalism. For anyone who
feels even remotely guilty living in this land of excess, avoiding
animal products forces them to be conscious of what they con
sume. Most Americans don’t even take the time to consider the
impact of their decisions as a consumer.
We don’t think about where all those great products come
from, we just use them. We continue to believe in eating meat
for our three daily meals. And we’ll fling ignorant insults at peo
ple who try to do something positive.
I listen to jokes about how I don’t “measure up” to my beef
fed counterparts. People insult my intelligence by calling me a
“granola” or “that freaking moron.” They’ll try to persuade me
into eating meat again with something like: “But humans were
meant to eat meat. It’s natural.”
But those freaking morons won’t ever listen to what I’m try
ing to say. They don’t care about the unnatural conditions in
which these animals are raised. They won’t hear my sermon
about man’s sick relationship with the earth. All they want to
hear is the sizzling flesh of a cow that grew up wallowing in its
own feces at some nasty, polluted feedlot. They are only think
ing about the next time they can bite into some pork that never
saw the sun because it grew up indoors covered with pig waste
— in tiny pens with hard, disgusting floors.
These animals have some sad lives. But what’s worse is how
discussions of this topic are discredited. We never question the
morality of some of the crazy things humans do; we flippantly
justify them with anthropocentric nonsense.
I can’t avoid all animal products in this world of mass pro
duction, but I sleep a little easier knowing I don’t have any
tortured little souls trapped in my body. And I’ll insult you
with that.
Joseph
Bechard
Cultural
Obstetrician
Contact the Pulse columnistatjosephbechard@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald.
Danielle Hickey Emerald
The Downtown Broadway Plaza was the site of an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, where children juggled, bands played and booths
gave out eco-friendly information. The celebration also featured the annual "Procession of All Species" parade.
Earth's day in the sun
Hundreds gathered on Saturday
for Eugene^ annual Earth Day
celebration to address issues
feeing the community and planet
Kara Hansen
Freelance Reporter
Bright sunshine welcomed the hun
dreds of people who gathered in Down
town Eugene on Saturday to celebrate
the 2003 Earth Day.
Beginning with an American Indian
blessing, the celebration boasted six
hours of music, activities, demonstra
tions and exhibits.
Although most gathered for the
same purpose, different individuals
expressed different feelings about cel
ebrating the holiday. For some, the
day offered a chance to learn, while
others hoped to party in the name of
Mother Earth.
It was Emerald People’s Utility Dis
trict’s first year participating in the cel
ebration, and for Communications Co
ordinator Judith Manning, celebrating
Adam Amato Emerald
The Honda Civic hybrid comes equipped with a four-cylinder engine and recharges when
pressure is applied to the brakes.
meant expanding awareness.
“This year, we wanted to take it to
the larger community — to bring a ru
ral population to the Downtown
event,” she said.
Earth Day blossomed in 1970 as a
nationwide, grassroots demonstration
for the environment. According to the
Wilderness Society Web site at
www.wilderness.org, organization
Turn to Celebration, page 8
Earth Day rooted on 1960s activism
Earth Day celebrations, such as
Saturday’s in Downtown Eugene,
were inspired by an anti-Vietnam
War grassroots protest
Ryan Bornheimer
Senior Pulse Reporter
Perhaps it isn’t surprising that the
first Earth Day sprang up from a peri
od of almost constant political ac
tivism — the 1960s. In those days, a
voice seemed to rise up for nearly
every possible social concern. But
what is surprising is that more than 30
years after the initial celebration,
Earth Day continues to grow and
thrive in the national consciousness.
This weekend brought the Earth
Day celebration to Downtown Eugene.
Marketing and Events Director Amy
Nielson said last year’s event drew
nearly 4000 visitors.
The far-reaching political impor
tance of the first Earth Day might get
lost amid the current and somewhat
benign celebratory festivities held in
cities across the country. The original
event actually represented the birth of
the modem environmental movement
— coming at a time of broad changes
in environmental law and an increased
awareness of surrounding issues.
While the first official Earth Day was
held April 22, 1970, the seeds were
planted nearly a decade earlier.
Former Senator Gaylord Nelson, D
Wis., came up with the idea in 1962,
after persuading Sen. Robert F.
Kennedy to embark on a national con
servation tour. Nelson had grown in
creasingly troubled by the fact that the
state of the environment was a non-is
sue in the politics of the era.
Kennedy’s five-day, 11-state tour was
unsuccessful at driving home the im
portance of the problem. However, it
was a major inspiration for what would
become Earth Day.
Nelson envisioned the event as
something similar to the anti-Vietnam
War “teach-ins” of the time — a grass
roots protest lamenting environmental
abuse. As soon as Nelson announced
in September 1969 that the protest
would be held the following spring, the
idea spread like wildfire.
Instead of one locally observed day
of protest, Earth Day ballooned into a
national event with forces functioning
independently and in conjunction
with Nelson’s original concept. Nelson
has been quoted many times as saying
the event “organized itself.”
The effects of that first Earth Day
can still be felt today.
Ecological Design Center co-Direc
tor Robyn Scofield said the creation of
Earth Day can be linked to important
environmental legislation, such as the
Clean Air Act, and the creation of
groups such as the Environmental Pro
tection Agency, both enacted in 1970.
Scofield said such changes set an ex
ample for the rest of the world.
“Those legislations set us apart from
other countries,” she said.
Turn to History, page 14