On April 22 politicians, environmental activists, musicians, local residents, and world-famous puppeteers converged on the JSC campus to join students, faculty, staff and administration in an often moving celebration of Earth Day.

The event began with a masterful performance of Bread and Puppet Theater’s Hallelujah Chorus, comprised mostly of JSC student and faculty volunteers. The performance was aided by large, beautiful illustrations (Bread and Puppet style), Mother Earth, and an old man. The message, delivered in 12 different languages to show solidarity in diversity, was that if we take care of the world, it will grow and the children will eat, but if we set fire to it and destroy it, it will cry and the children will die. The chorus was well received by well over 100 people basking in the warm sun.

Following the performance was a spirited peace march around campus, complete with bells, whistles, and anti-war signs. Professor of Humanities Gerry Anderson gave the marchers and any by-standers a burst of inspiration with the chant, “Stop the greedy, feed the needy!”

During an open mic period, JSC community members spoke of fears and hopes about the environment and the price of war. People learned about a new LED light bulb that only uses 3.5 watts and produces as much light as a 50-watt halogen light bulb.

 

A touching poem by a 7th-grader was read, comparing the life of a typical American child to a typical (and poor) African child.

 

JSC senior Roger Miller made the point that in many ways people decide policy by how they choose to spend their money. SGA president Jon Harris posed the question, “What do you think we could do with $700 plus billion [figure later corrected as $900 plus billion] a year other than blow stuff up and kill people?”

 

Then JSC alumnus and Progressive Party gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina spoke about what he clearly regarded as an unacceptable status quo. He touched on the high costs of homes and higher education in Vermont and the option and ability to use renewable energy and buy local food.

 

“A lot of people in political power will tell you it’s not really your choice, that these bad things that go on in the world, they’re just inevitable, there’s nothing you can do about them,” Pollina said, prompting an audience member to shout, “That’s bullshit!”

 

He continued, “You’re right. Whether it’s climate change, whether it’s the loss of family farms, whether it’s war, whether it’s environmental destruction, they will tell you it’s inevitable: go home, sit down, watch TV, shut up, leave us alone. They want you to be powerless. That’s not the way it is. It’s not so. And complacency is not OK anymore! These are conscious choices. Inevitability means it’s not about you – [but] it is about you and it’s about you finding the power to make sure that the choices that are made are like the choices you would make…”

 

After Pollina spoke, Tom Stearns, founder of High Mowing organic seed company, one of the largest organic seed producers in the country, talked about the dangers of genetically modified foods and broken food systems. “How many of you know where one ingredient in the food you ate today came from?” he asked.

 

Stearns, along with the Sierra Club, the Center for Food Safety, and the Organic Seed Alliance, is suing the USDA over a new genetically modified version of sugar beets (which makes up about half of the sugar we consume) because they did not look at its environmental, economic, or human health impacts before allowing its production.

 

Demonstrating the absurdity of the food system in our culture, he said, “A strawberry has about five calories, but to get it from California to the Northeast uses about 350 calories per strawberry. So that’s a broken food system,” he said.