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- ENVIRONMENT, Page 84EARTH DAYA Global Festival
-
-
- Not sure how to celebrate April 22? Here's a sampler of the
- worldwide whirl planned for the big day. The committed and the
- merely curious will be gathering at sites from Toulouse to
- Tokyo. There's something for everyone: a quiet read or a
- marathon rock concert, a bike ride or a mountain climb, some
- tree planting or trash sculpting.
-
- TV SHOWS
-
- Glasnost on the air. The Blue Eye of Siberia, a Soviet
- documentary on the deterioration of Lake Baikal, plays on April
- 18 and 19, and a two-hour feature on April 22 will address the
- Soviet Union's worst ecological disasters.
-
- Rockers to the rescue. A CBS special called Save the Planet
- runs on April 20. With hosts Katey Sagal (Married . . . With
- Children) and comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, the show has musical
- numbers by the Fine Young Cannibals and the Red Hot Chili
- Peppers. Paula Abdul, Alice Cooper and Billy Idol will "provide
- their own thoughts on the state of the world's environment."
-
- China tunes in. A speech by Premier Li Peng urging support
- for environmental protection leads off the evening news from
- Beijing on April 22, and an Earth Day concert airs nationwide
- later that night.
-
- Mother Earth's delicate condition. On April 22 ABC
- broadcasts the Earth Day Special, featuring Bette Midler as an
- abused Mother Earth who collapses in a town square, suffering
- from global warming, deforestation, etc., and gets tended by
- Drs. Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris) and Steven Kiley (James
- Brolin). Visitors to the invalid include Kevin Costner, Quincy
- Jones and Meryl Streep.
-
- Video marathon. The VH-1 cable network will air 52
- consecutive hours, starting the night of April 20, of Earth Day
- programming, including musical performances, videos, short
- documentary films, humor and political commentary.
-
- CONCERTS AND DANCE
-
- Rocking in Rio. About 260,000 people are expected for Paul
- McCartney's Brazil concerts on April 19 and 21, part of a world
- tour calling attention to the environment.
-
- Whole lot of shaking. Columbia, Md., is host to "Performance
- for the Planet," a concert with 10,000 Maniacs (the band, not
- the audience), the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Jungle
- Brothers. April 21.
-
- Tokyo serenade. The "We Love Music, We Love the Earth"
- concert includes Sadao Watanabe, Lee Ritenour, Patti Austin,
- James Taylor, Dave Grusin and Oscar Castro-Neves. April 21.
-
- Fancy footwork. Mankind in and out of harmony with nature
- is the theme of The Source, a ballet premiering in Piqua, Ohio,
- April 21.
-
- Bangkok bash. Thailand's top rock band, the Carabao,
- headlines the "We Love the Forest" concert on April 22.
-
- THEATER
-
- Whodunit. The All Children's Theater Ensemble in Warwick,
- R.I., presents End of the World Cafe, a mystery in which Mother
- Earth hires a detective to find out who wants to kill her and
- why. April 21.
-
- Where's Shakespeare? Sacred Earth Trust is managing a drama
- competition that begins on Earth Day in London. Playwrights are
- invited to submit scripts, videos or cassettes giving an
- environmental slant to religious stories.
-
- BOOKS
-
- Reflections by a Member of the Species. The late German
- neurologist Hoimar von Ditfurth examines man's arrogance and the
- resulting disregard for and mistreatment of nature. Claassen;
- 39.80 deutsche marks ($24).
-
- Design for a Livable Planet. Ecology-energy expert Jon
- Naar's handy, all-around guide to individual and group action.
- Harper & Row; $12.95.
-
- The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. In
- Lynne Cherry's lushly drawn children's story, a woodcutter's
- plan to chop down the towering tree meets with objections from
- the forest denizens. Gulliver Books/ Harcourt Brace Jovanovich;
- $14.95.
-
- Damming the Narmada: India's Greatest Planned Environmental
- Disaster. This attack on a mammoth dam project scheduled for
- central India is so controversial that the Indian customs
- department banned it for a time in 1988. It was written by
- Claude Alvares and Ramesh Billorey. Third World Network and
- APPEN; 40 rupees ($2.30).
-
- Making Peace with the Planet. The latest book by biologist
- and best-selling author Barry Commoner sets a new agenda for
- activists and governments. Pantheon; $19.95.
-
- Will the Earth Stop Turning? Haroun Tazieff, France's former
- Secretary of State for Prevention of Natural Disasters, assesses
- threats ranging from ozone-layer damage to garbage and suggests
- how policies might be improved. Segher; 85 francs ($15).
-
- A Forest Journey: The Role of Wood in the Development of
- Civilization. An illustrated history by John Perlin of how man's
- reliance on wood for fuel and as a building material has shaped
- culture, economies, politics and technology. Norton; $19.95.
-
- The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Business. Italian
- economist Emilio Gerelli's book stresses the need for monetary
- incentives to help the environment. Il Mulino; 20,000 lire
- ($16).
-
- FESTIVALS AND RALLIES
-
- Sunrise over Nova Scotia. Early-morning and evening
- ceremonies will be held at the picturesque but polluted harbor
- of Halifax. Children's choirs will sing, and medicine man Noel
- Kirkwood of the Micmac Indian nation will speak "as the Great
- Spirit moves him," says the organizer.
-
- New York frolic. Where the ball traditionally drops in Times
- Square on New Year's Eve, a model of the earth will rise at 9
- a.m. to begin an all-day Earth Day festival. Crowds will hear
- speeches, eat organic foods, examine "environmentally sound"
- consumer products and enjoy entertainment ranging from a samba
- band to the B-52s rock group.
-
- Rio replay. Brazil's discovery on April 22, 1500, is
- re-enacted with an ecological twist at Copacabana Beach. Sailors
- disembarking from a schooner will carry constructive emblems of
- mankind: solar energy, bicycles, biodegradable products. Then
- they will load up the ship with destructive symbols: nuclear
- energy, pesticides, aerosol cans and, yes, bureaucrats.
-
- Hong Kong carnival. A day-long educational entertainment at
- Kowloon Park featuring singers, artists and mimes, as well as
- exhibits of "green" consumer products, demonstrations of how
- paper is recycled and games like "nonpolluting picnic."
-
- Fun and games in Chicago. The city's Academy of Sciences is
- having a children's sing-along, a puppet show and games like
- "smart shopper," in which youngsters choose the most
- environmentally sound product in a make-believe store.
-
- Tokyo happening. Visitors to the Earth Day festival at
- Yume-no-shima (Dream Island), a park built on what was once a
- trash dump, can take in a concert or play, watch milk cartons
- being turned into postcards and cooking oil into soap, or tour
- two nearby garbage-processing centers.
-
- Honolulu review. Modes of transport that rely on fossil fuel
- are banned from the Low Energy Parade. Participants must bring
- a vehicle run by solar energy, electricity or methane gas.
- Otherwise, a bicycle or foot power will do nicely.
-
- St. Louis roundup. Handmade costumes and masks of endangered
- species are the highlight of the parades on April 21 and 22 that
- start at the city's famed zoo.
-
- CLEANUPS
-
- Adopt-a-beach. Thousands of volunteers will hit the
- California coastline from San Diego to Oregon, to clear litter
- and refuse off the beaches.
-
- Litter lift. More than 60,000 citizens, including students,
- officials and civic and business leaders, are expected to fan
- out along 9 km (15 miles) of Winnipeg, Canada, roadways to pick
- up trash and debris.
-
- Give a day for the Bay. In Maryland, residents by the
- thousands have signed up for the April 21 statewide cleanup that
- has Chesapeake Bay as the focus. Volunteers will plant trees and
- marsh grass, paint DON'T DUMP signs on storm drains, build
- nesting boxes for ducks, remove fish barriers, pick up debris
- from streams and shorelines, test water and scout pollution
- sources.
-
- PLANTINGS
-
- The wooden curtain. Trees will be planted at various sites
- along the border between East and West Germany, where
- fortifications once stood.
-
- Trees across America. In St. Louis, 10,000 people are
- expected to plant 10,000 trees on the banks where the
- Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet.
-
- Forest transplant. On Canada's Vancouver Island, Boy Scouts
- and others will remove trees from an old forest that is about
- to be cut down and replant them 3.2 km (2 miles) away in an area
- that has already been cleared of vegetation.
-
- Kenya countdown. The Evangelical Fellowship of Kenya will
- launch its campaign to plant 1.5 million trees with the help of
- churches and schools.
-
- FEATS
-
- Bike to the future. More than 200 cyclists are pledged to
- take part in a 24-hour bike-a-thon to raise money for a
- stream-bank cleanup around Grand Rapids.
-
- Peak performance. To demonstrate that the environment is a
- common cause, 15 U.S., Soviet and Chinese climbers hope to reach
- the top of 8,848-meter (29,028-ft.) Mount Everest on Earth Day.
- Those who get there will place satellite calls to heads of
- state, then pick up garbage and gear dumped by previous
- expeditions.
-
- Tower of trash. In Toulouse, the activist group Friends of
- the Earth will unveil a 2.5-meter (8-ft.) tall garbage sculpture
- titled Monument to the Unknown Refuse.
-
- A rousing pounding. Led by Native Americans, Oregonians
- across the state will beat on drums just before noon. The
- thumping is meant to assure disgruntled earth spirits that
- mankind is still here and trying to improve the planet's
- condition.
-
- Ladybug liberation. In recognition of the danger that burst
- rubber balloons pose to birds and the environment,
- schoolchildren in Solano County, Calif., will celebrate by
- releasing, instead of balloons, 300,000 colorful ladybugs.
-
- Neighborly nudge. Not everyone worries about the hazards of
- releasing balloons. As many as 10,000 of them, carrying cards
- with pro-environmental messages like "Buy recycled paper," will
- be sent aloft from Munich's main square. The project's
- organizers hope for a wind from the southwest that will blow the
- balloons into highly polluted Czechoslovakia.
-
- Kite flyby. More than 3,000 kites made by schoolchildren in
- Tours, France, will be joined together and flown, creating a
- colorful arch across the Cher River.
-
- Clear-water relay. To raise consciousness about
- contamination in rivers and streams, activists will collect a
- bottle of springwater in Lincoln County, Ky., and relay it by
- canoe down the Green River's 616-km (382-mile) length to
- Evansville, Ind.
-
- Pollution protest. Rome's nature lovers plan to put their
- bodies on the line April 21 when they stage a sit-down, maybe
- even a lie-in, along one of the Italian capital's traffic-choked
- central thoroughfares. Survivors can attend a concert in a
- nearby piazza.
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