Spring Break
Volunteers restore wetland
Noel Runyan, Contributing Writer
Issue date: 4/25/06 Section: News
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Established in 1970, Earth Day has become a time to raise awareness of the state of the planet. Representatives from the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology, the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and other volunteers were in attendance in solidarity with the aims of the World Peace Wetlands Center, namely to facilitate world peace through environmental preservation.
The World Peace Wetlands Center is a 2.5 acre plot of land located at 1121 South Duncan Street. Situated between a pickle processing factory and a housing development, it stands as a small patch of undisturbed greenery in an increasingly commercialized society. Many of Saturday's participants found this continuous trend toward suburban development to be deeply disturbing.
Documentary filmmakers Alice and Lincoln Day voiced their concerns. Motioning to the trees and sky around her, Alice Day commented that such unchecked expansion upsets "the hive… the web of nature of it's all a part of".
Though they have no previous connection with the World Peace Wetlands Center, the Days' artistic message is firmly in line with that of the Wetlands Center.
"Our environment is often referred to as the silent casualty of war", said Alice Day. She and her husband are currently producing a film entitled "Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War" which will explore the ecological impact of human conflict.
The theme of world harmony was a persistent one this Earth Day. When asked about the purpose of two large piles of dirt sitting across from one another, local musician and volunteer Kelly Mulhollan commented that one of them was intended to become a "World Peace Garden". A variety of trees from all over the world would eventually be planted as a celebration of global understanding, he said.
The other mound was being used for a children's King of the Hill contest, though Mulhollan speculated that it would probably become a butterfly garden in the near future.
