Earth Day Is Back to Face Growing Challenges, Dangers

On the first Earth Day in 1970, Jeanne Davies remembers, students at Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley set out to save the world.

Instead of holding classes on that sunny April day, Davies and her fellow Monte Vista teachers organized an environmental symposium. Teen-agers wearing green armbands sat outside on the lawn, listening to speakers talk about air pollution, energy conservation and the dangers of urban sprawl.

By day’s end, Davies recalls, “The students pointed fingers and said, ‘You’ve ruined the world for us.’ And they decided they would take over Spring Valley. We drew up traffic patterns, parks, a whole plan for the future. Everyone was going to go out and save the wilderness, plan cities as they should be planned, cut down on fuel use.”

Two decades later, as San Diego prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, Davies looks back fondly on that idealistic afternoon. But in the face of today’s pressing problems--a troublesome list that includes ozone depletion, deforestation and global warming-- her nostalgia is tempered by what she describes as an urgent need for action.

“Had we gone on from 1970 in our thinking, we wouldn’t be in the mess that we are in today,” said Davies, who has retired from teaching and now chairs the San Diego Sierra Club’s recycling committee. “The problems have changed, but we’re fighting the same battle. Where are my students today?”

Beginning this week, a consortium of local environmental groups, colleges and businesses will kick off a series of environmentally minded events intended to inspire San Diegans to make a new commitment to protect the planet. The 12 weeks of events, which include a speakers series, concerts and a San Diego Bay cleanup, will culminate on the 20th anniversary, April 22, in a daylong Earth Fair in Balboa Park.

Organizers and sponsors of the events say they are taking advantage of what one political aide calls “a mainstreaming of the environmental movement.”

“The environment is not just something for the ‘60s radicals anymore. It’s for everyone,” said Cynthia Vicknair, executive assistant to San Diego City Councilwoman Judy McCarty, who is seeking to set aside a portion of the April 16 council docket for environmental issues.

Today, in an attempt to build local interest, a private reception and media conference will be held aboard the schooner Invader. During a tour of the San Diego Bay, invited guests will sail past the damaged oil tanker Exxon Valdez and will hear from Norman L. Dean, the National Wildlife Federation’s legal director, who is preparing to sue Exxon for the damage wrought by the tanker’s 1989 oil spill off Alaska.

Later, at a reception at Reidy O’Neil’s Irish Bar and American Grill in downtown San Diego, Dean will speak on what many say is the most important thrust of this year’s celebration: “Individual Responsibility: Creating Environmental Change.” (Those interested in attending the reception from 6-8 p.m. should make a reservation by Monday morning by calling Carolyn Chase at 488-6116).

Gaye Soroka, executive director of I Love a Clean San Diego County Inc. and one of San Diego Earth Day 1990’s organizers, believes one of the flaws of the 1970 demonstration was that it emphasized legislative action without stressing how individuals can make a difference.

The legislative victories that followed that first Earth Day were great: a tough new Clean Air Act was passed with only a handful of dissenting votes in both houses of Congress; the Clean Water Act was passed. That same year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency was established.

But Soroka, who marched in an Earth Day demonstration in Philadelphia in 1970, said she believes that many of the 20-million Americans who participated across the country went home with the mistaken impression that protecting the environment was solely the government’s responsibility.

“We had a giant rally, we marched and listened to political speakers and bands, lay in the sun and drank a lot of beer,” said Soroka, who was a college sophomore at the time. “We signed petitions and then went home. It didn’t get anywhere because it wasn’t personalized.”

The challenge for Soroka and other Earth Day 1990 organizers, she believes, is to make this year’s celebration a practical “call to action.”

“What has to happen is that people say, ‘I have to fix it.’ That’s the critical thing. If we allow ourselves to be ignorant of where our elected officials stand, if we don’t sort our trash, if we don’t pay attention to the products and packages we buy or . . . if we pour our used oil down a storm drain--then we’re just as guilty” as industrial polluters that are regulated by the government, she said.

Soroka says she realizes part of the key is to educate San Diegans not only about global problems but about local solutions.

“To hear the words ‘ozone depletion’ doesn’t tell me what I can do to help,” she said, adding that this year’s events, many of which are still being planned, will attempt to give San Diegans concrete suggestions--from beach cleanups to recycling to tree-planting to environmentally conscious grocery shopping--about what can be done to solve environmental problems.

To provide an incentive for local businesses to get involved, the local Sierra Club chapter has commissioned a poster that promotes the 1990s as the “Decade of the Environment.” The limited edition commemorative poster, which features endangered species like the California brown pelican and the San Diego horned lizard, is available for use by local businesses that create pro-environment projects.

Greentree Grocers on Mount Acadia Blvd., for example, will sell the $12 poster at half price with the purchase of a reusable, canvas grocery bag--an ecological substitute for paper or plastic sacks.

Similarly, Ben & Jerry’s Hillcrest Scoop Shop has joined with the Sierra Club to promote the Environmental Protection Initiative, which would require oil spill prevention plans, reduced emissions of gases and regulation of pesticide use, among other things. The shop, which will display and sell the commemorative poster, is offering free ice cream cones to customers who bring in five registered voters’ signatures on the initiative ballot.

A broad-based campaign is also under way to get at least 100,000 San Diegans to sign the Earth Day Pledge, which reads in part, “I pledge to do my share for the planet by letting my concern for the environment shape how I: educate, join, purchase, work, vote (and) act.” The signed pledges will be distributed to local politicians and tabulated nationally in an attempt to measure popular support for the environment.

Finally, at the daylong Earth Fair in Balboa Park on April 22, educational booths, museum exhibits, art and entertainment will aim to increase San Diegans’ environmental awareness. Included in the events will be a 5K/1-mile “Run for the Rain Forest” and an Earth Art Show sponsored by the San Diego Art Institute.

Pre-Earth Day events that are open to the public include:

* Earth Day 1990 Speaker Series, sponsored by the University of San Diego. Beginning Feb. 7, USD will feature lawyers, authors, professors and political leaders speaking on topics ranging from chlorofluorocarbons to the past, present and future of San Diego Bay.

The first speaker, Feb. 7, will be Larry Agran, the mayor of Irvine. Among the other highlights: David Brower, the director of Earth Island Institute, the founder of the League of Conservation Voters and Friends of the Earth, as well as the first executive director of the Sierra Club, will speak on the preservation of natural resources March 29.

In addition to individual speakers, there will be two panel discussions: “U.S. and Mexico: Shared Environmental Border Problems” on Feb. 22 and “Oil Spill Prevention and Response” on March 15. For more information or a calendar of events, call Melody Ashley, 260-4600, Ext. 2675.

* Two all-day Earth Day fund-raising concerts at the Arts Park in Del Mar. By mixing jazz, country, folk and rock music with environmental displays, organizers hope to draw attention to Earth Day and to raise money for the San Diego Earth Day 1990 Coalition. On Feb. 11, Peter Sprague, Deborah Liv Johnson, “Bongo” Bob Goldsand and Sonic Bar-B-Q will play from noon to 5 p.m. On March 11, the Wayward Saints, Bucket Ruckus and Nightshift will share the stage. A $3 donation is suggested. For more information or to find out how to set up a display, call Richard Carter, 755-7025.

* A Feb. 22 panel discussion, “The Packaging Dilemma: Your Choices at the Check-out.” In an effort to show consumers the long-range impact of their shopping decisions, a spokesman for the plastics industry, an executive from the Big Bear Supermarkets chain, the editor of the Environmental Business Journal and the conservation coordinator of the San Diego Sierra Club will share the podium with San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding. The panel will be held at San Diego State University at 7 p.m. For more information, call I Love A Clean San Diego County, 270-8393.

* In March, soon after the new 1990 telephone books are distributed in San Diego and Coronado, I Love A Clean San Diego County will launch a phone book recycling drive. The drive, which will run March 24 through April 8, will be targeted in the city of San Diego. For more information, call 270-8393.

* On April 7, the San Diego Audubon Society, in cooperation with the California Native Plant Society, will offer free guided walks to celebrate Earth Day. The walks, which will each be led by a bird and a plant specialist, will be held in several locations throughout San Diego County, allowing participants to attend one close to home. For locations, call the Audubon Society office, 483-7620, or Alice DeBolt, 459-8159.

To find out more about Earth Day, call 270-8477 or write the San Diego Earth Day 1990 Coalition, 4901 Morena Blvd., Suite 703, San Diego, Ca. 92117. The public is also encouraged to attend the coalition’s next meeting on Feb. 1 from 7-9 p.m. at the University of San Diego, University Center, Forum Room A.