This year, April 22 marks the 41st national celebration of Earth Day. Since 1970, Americans have used this day to raise awareness for recycling, renewable energy and other planet-friendly practices. St. Louis has a large Earth Day Festival in Forest Park each year to encourage citizens to be “green.”
The Journal applauds the promotion of sustainability on and off campus, which is why you will find a four-page Earth Day Supplement surrounding this week’s issue. We feel it is important to have a responsible outlook for our surroundings and our future. Environmental awareness is part of that responsibility.
Most weeks, The Journal seeks to focus on immediate news issues affecting students. With this week marking a national celebration of the environment, we chose to branch out. The stories and commentaries pertain to many big picture ideas that, while current and relevant, are not Webster University exclusive. But we believe the issues should be covered.
This year, Webster students have been involved in waste audits and river clean-ups. The school has shown environmentally conscious films in the Winnifred Moore Auditorium and hosted presentations by several environmental activists. These factors inspired us to take special interest in Earth Day, and to more fully cover the “green” issues.
As students of a global institution, it is only fitting that sustainability should be part of the educational experience at Webster. It would be shortsighted for a person to embrace cultural diversity and global citizenship without also embracing a respectful attitude toward the world’s resources.
Campus Activities, Webster Students for Environmental Sustainability and other groups around campus will be out in full force this week, hosting demonstrations, competitions and of course, giving away free swag as part of Environment Week. Missouri Botanical Gardens and the St. Louis Zoo also hold events celebrating Earth Day.
Clearly, this issue is important to students and faculty, and we at The Journal aim to give a voice to these concerns. The environmental studies minor program is growing in numbers, and this year an outdoor and nature writing certificate was added in the School of Communications. As Webster becomes more aware and more supportive of sustainability, so does The Journal.
We hope students will read our supplement, participate and hopefully learn something about how they can make a difference in the world. At the very least, please recycle your copy of The Journal when you are done reading it.
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