Earth Music Festival 2002

When Sarah Hodgdon pieced together the second Earth Day Festival in 1993, she says those who attended became passionate about land in Mississippi that the University owned and was considering selling to a corporation for hazardous waste facilities.\nIU didn't sell to that corporation, and the issue has long since been resolved, but Hodgdon's festival continues now in its 10th year. Today, local environmentalists are protesting office supplier Staples' promotion of non-recyclable products instead of IU selling land.\nBeyond environmental politics, the annual free Earth and Music Festival organized by the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) celebrates music and public speaking, along with zealous messages about the earth.\nHodgdon's presence is another similarity that will connect this Saturday's celebration to past festivals. As the executive director for Dogwood Alliance, an Asheville, N.C.-based activist group that defends southern forests and communities, Hodgdon will speak about SEAC's protest against the building of a hazardous waste facility in Noxubee County, Miss., when she was a student at IU. She says student activists haven't changed much since her graduation in 1993.\n"One of the things that strikes me is that students are always at the forefront for social change," Hodgdon says. "Students are leaders in campaigns like the Dogwood Campaign. That reminds me of my campaign with Noxubee. It was one of the most significant things I did with my life. It's exciting to come back and reflect on that."\nMusic makes the people come together\nJust like Hodgdon in 1992 and 1993, the 2002 Earth and Music Festival aims to inject environmental issues into the minds of college students and Bloomington residents.\nSophomore Colby Miller, Myst lead singer and guitarist, is one person willing to act as a guinea pig. His acoustic folk band will kick off the eight-group slate. He says the festival marks his first opportunity to get involved with environmentalism, although he's always been interested in it.\n"I never got into it time-wise," Miller says. "Saving the rainforest is probably the biggest issue. Recently with the oil drilling in Alaska, we need to have a strong stance against that to preserve that area."\nWith such interest, Miller says his band is willing to play for free. None of the bands or speakers are being paid to perform, says SEAC president and junior Sarah Butler.\n"Music, especially at this level, shouldn't be about money," Miller says. "It's for a philanthropic cause. That's more important than money."\nLack of money prevented SEAC from setting aside a second stage. SEAC borrowed equipment from WIUS for a second stage last year, but the radio station needs the stage the same weekend for an event this year.\nSEAC didn't have enough money to rent additional equipment, says SEAC treasurer and senior Stephanie Ruggiero. But the change in format might promote the bands more effectively because few people gathered at the second stage last year, she says.\nThe one stage plays host to eight diverse bands ranging from the Indianapolis folky, bluegrass Huck Finn Band to The Lyndon Baines' punk and hard rock. Each band will play for about an hour. Although Myst's influences of Phish and the Grateful Dead seem to fit the environmental bill, Ruggiero says she didn't listen to political messages to choose among the 25 demos that SEAC received.\n"The variety is good," says Ruggiero, the festival's main coordinator. "We tried to pick all kinds of bands instead of 'trippy' bands that people would think normally come to environmental events. We try to appeal to a larger audience because the environment affects everyone. We're trying to reach as big of an audience as we can."\nEnvironmentalism as 'second nature'\nSEAC's audience also includes children, who can participate in such activities as watercolor painting and games. Graduate student Jenn Hanink will help children plant seedlings leftover from her greenhouse project at Jordan Hall in biodegradable pots made of newspaper. The children can then plant the seedlings in their backyards. \nKids also can engage in a dart game that involves hitting targets that describe local and national companies. The activity teaches kids which corporations might act environmentally safe, Butler says. It's important to teach kids that message, along with how they too can protect the ecosystem.\n"If you start kids off with this at an early age, it becomes second nature later in life," Ruggiero says.\nSenior Lance Thurner incorporated a children's theme into his play, "The Lorax," for last year's festival. Adapted from a Dr. Seuss story, the play depicts a character who urges the preservation of trees, but a villain still cuts them down. Saturday, Thurner will unveil a 45-minute original production called "The Tale of the Giant Squid from the Deep Abyss Disguised as a Television."\nMessages\nRuggiero became involved with SEAC during her sophomore year, when she stumbled across a chalk advertisement for the student group on a sidewalk. She went to a meeting and was hooked, she says. Ruggiero adds she particularly takes an interest in forest issues. But she likes even more that students can take action with environmentalism.\nMessages unleashed at Saturday's festival will include recycling, human rights issues and the creation of additional roads in national forests. SEAC member and senior Mollie Lemon says people who attend the festival can learn routines as practical as not buying heavily-packaged products like juice boxes and using a reusable wash rag for cleaning.\nThree speakers -- including two Green Party members -- will deliver more complex messages. Julie Roberts will deliver a motivational speech about how organizing time is more important than money. \nIn a homecoming of sorts, Hodgdon says she'll discuss the Dogwood Alliance's protest against Staples. Hodgdon says she hopes to inform those who attend Saturday's festival about her glory days at IU. Current SEAC members say they also wish attendees will leave inspired.\n"I hope the day ends up with everyone coming away with either learning something, I'll be happy at the end of the day," Ruggiero says.