Environmentalist Urges Planning

The founder of Earth Day, Gaylord Nelson, said the responsibility of today's generation is to make the world's environment safe for future generations in a speech sponsored by the University Committee on the Environment last night.

Nelson, a former U.S. Senator and Governor of Wisconsin, told audience members that society must seek a sustainable level of consumption.

"The most encouraging phenomenon is the growing recognition that forging and maintaining a sustainable society is the challenge for this and for all future generations," Nelson said in his speech last night.

Nelson said the nation's wealth is in its natural resources--its crop lands, forests and grasslands. He said the U.S. must lead the world in creating, "a conservation ethic" in order to preserve these fragile environments.

Nelson said improvements in the environment must be championed by politicians.

He expressed his frustration in with the political phrase, "I am for the environment if it doesn't cost jobs."

Nelson said his response to this type of political jargon was that, "jobs are inextricably dependent upon the environment."

The environmentalist called the current fight to save the environment "the third great revolution."

"Nations can recover from loss, but there is no hope for recovery from a destroyed ecosystem," he said.

The speaker said that one of his main fears for contemporary society is the exponentially increasing population growth. When he was born in 1916 the population of the earth was 1.7 billion people, Nelson said.

By the year 2000 the expected population growth is 6.3 billion, he said, an incremental increase of 10,800 people per hour.

Nelson predicted that if such population growth continues, the U.S. will have to double in 60 years an infrastructure that took 200 years to build.

Nelson speculated that if the U.S. were forced to expand so much, there would be little unspoiled wilderness left.

The environmentalist also argued that the U.S. is too lenient in its immigration laws.

"We allow more immigrants in this country than all other nations in the world combined," he said.

John Barrett '57 a spectator at last night's event, disagreed with Nelson, saying technological innovations will allow enormous increases in food capacities.

"I am concerned that overemphasis on population could affect women, minorities, immigrants and health care of children," he said.

Nelson began work on the environment at a National level in 1963, when he attempted to start an Earth conservation tour with the help of former president and Crimson editor John F. Kennedy '40. The tour's purpose was to get the issue of the environment, "on a national agenda," said Nelson.

Although 80 reporters from all the major television networks accompanied the tour group, Nelson said his attempts failed to win national attention.

"Reporters didn't understand it, and didn't care," Nelson said.

Nelson established Earth day in 1970, inspired by the Anti-Vietnam sit-ins that were a common occurrence on American college campuses during that time.

"I had hoped for a demonstration so big that it would get the attention of all the politicians," Nelson said last night.

Twenty million people attended the first earth day which was held on April 22, 1970.