Environmental awareness targeted during Earth Day

With menacing clouds looming overhead, nearly 150 people who attended the Earth and Music Festival Friday to celebrate Earth Day were rewarded as the rain held off for most of the day-long celebration.\nThe festival was the dominant event at the 35th annual festival in Bloomington. Sponsored by the Student Environmental Action Coalition and the IU Council for Environmental Stewardships, the festival sought to promote sustainability, conservation and the environment.\n"Earth Day is like an advertisement to get people to think about the Earth and how dependent we are on her resources," said Lucille Bertuccio, secretary of the Center for Sustainable Living. "Earth Day by itself cannot do much, but if people's consciousness is raised, they can begin to address these very difficult issues."\nBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan, sporting a Jerry Garcia tie, kicked off the event in Dunn Meadow by dedicating the ceremonial tree planted in the meadow. \n"This is the best-planned event by the students, faculty and the city at large," Kruzan said. "This demonstrates you care, you are willing to demonstrate that you care and, most importantly, it demonstrates you are committed to action."\nThe event featured guest speaker Maria Gunnoe, who spoke of the perils of mountaintop removal in her hometown of Bob White, W. Va., and other parts of the Appalachians. Gunnoe said the process of blasting away mountaintops so energy companies can mine for coal has ruined lives as it has created flooding and contamination of the local environment.\n"It is terrorism," Gunnoe said. "And it's the worst kind of terrorism, because it's legal, and our government is behind this 100 percent."\nDocumentary filmmaker Drury Gunn Carr was also spoke at the event. Carr talked about his film, "Libby, Montana," which was shown throughout the weekend. \n"During the last 10 years or so, the environment has crept out of the national consciousness. It is clear our message is not getting through," said Carr, who suggested that to solve this problem a better connection must be made with rural communities.\nPizza Express was also present as it unveiled its new zero-emission electric car. The company believes that the environmentally friendly vehicle is more cost efficient and pollutes less than the average car, and might spur interest in others purchasing similar vehicles.\n"We hope this will increase interest in electric vehicles," said Sara Sheikh, Pizza Express marketing/communications manager. "In Bloomington it's ideal for driving around town."\nMembers of INPIRG were giving away raffle tickets at the festival to anyone who turned in a copy of the Indiana Daily Student in order to raise awareness of recycling.\nThe Kelley School of Business also put on an event Thursday in honor of Earth Day, as it held its fourth annual Environmental Exposition and Earth Day Ceremony and the Kelley Green Awards. The award is given to three local and national businesses that display high environmental standards.\n"It shows responsibility and innovation as far as the environment is concerned," said senior Nicole Ross, who nominated Wagner Homes for one of the awards.\nCity-wide events were also held as part of the BloomingTree initiative, sponsored by the city and several local organizations. BloomingTree events will continue throughout the week, culminating with Arbor Day festivals next Saturday. \n"Earth Day is just one day -- or in this case two weeks -- of activities and happenings," Bertuccio said. "But the attitude change and the behavior change should last the 365 days that this marvelous, beautiful Earth travels around the sun."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Trevor Brown at brownta@indiana.edu.