Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 21, 1990 TAG: 9004230180
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
But the journalism sophomore did have a feel for the object of the game.
"I think it's just to give you an idea of the problems of the world that countries have to deal with - and what can happen if you screw up."
The Philadelphia-based World Game Institute brought its sprawling map of the planet - one of three such maps touted as the largest and most accurate in the world - to the university in celebration of Earth Week.
Each player represents a country during a particular decade. The player gets a list of the nation's vital statistics, such as energy production, population, literacy level, per capita income and so forth.
The rules, simply put: 1) find out what you have, 2) determine what you need, and 3) get it.
"It's totally relevant to what's happening in the world," said senior Michelle Taffe, who was playing a member of the world press corps. "It should be mandatory for us to be here today."
None of the Earth Day activities planned in the New River Valley are mandatory, of course, but chances are they'll be popular. In fact, Earth Day coordinators had to schedule events all this week to fit everything in.
Groups and localities have sponsored a wholesome array of programs, including bicycle repair workshops, films, tree plantings, litter cleanups, parades, music and seminars on the loss of species worldwide, recycling at home and forest management.
Many Earth Day events in the New River Valley were listed in the calendar in Friday's New River Current. The Extra section of the Roanoke Times & World-News last Sunday also listed events across Western Virginia.
"I don't know what they hope to accomplish except to get people to change their way of living," said John Cairns, director of the Center for Environmental and Hazardous Material Studies at Virginia Tech.
But that is precisely what's called for, he said, repeating the now-familiar phrase: Think globally; act locally.
"A special group with white hats can't save the Earth - everybody will have to," he said.
Cairns, who participated in the first Earth Day in 1970, said policymakers and citizens haven't done much since then to curb environmental damage.
And even though events such as Earth Week can't solve the problem, he said, they do help.
They reach young people before they are set in their ways, he said.
Indeed, most New River Valley schools are featuring Earth Day activities.
Riverlawn Elementary School in Pulaski County had a 5-day Earth Day project this week to teach students about environmental problems and how they can help.
Radford schools sponsored a poster and poetry contest, with the winners to be announced during an all-day festival in Bissett Park today.
Ann Shoosmith, who helped coordinate Earth Week activities in Radford, read part of a poem submitted by an eighth-grader:
"Just look what we've done to this Earth we call our home. We seem to wreak havoc, wherever we roam."
Shoosmith has high hopes for the turnout this weekend and said she hopes Earth Day 1991 will be even bigger.
\ FACTS ABOUT THE MAP\ WORLD GAME TELLS A LOT ABOUT PLANET\ The World Game Institute maps are said to be the world's largest, most accurate representations of our planet. They use the Fuller projection - named for the map's designer, architect Buckminster Fuller, who also designed the geodesic dome. Traditional flat maps depict the world in east-west fashion, which distorts the shape and scale of land masses. The Fuller projection unfolds the earth's surface in a north-south manner.
On the World Game map, there are four human steps from New York to Los Angeles.
The moon would be 700 feet above the map's surface, or the height of a 70-story building.
The sun would be 47 miles above the map.
If a 6-foot tall man were standing on the map, rockets would go into orbit around his ankles.
A space shuttle travels 150 miles above Earth, or about 5 1/2 inches above the map.
The highest mountain peaks and the deepest ocean depths would be the thickness of a nickel.
About 90 percent of the world's biomass would live within the thickness of the ink on the map.
\ CELEBRATE EARTH DAY EVERY DAY\ FROM THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION\ It costs the average American household $1,000 a year to run its appliances. Switch to energy-efficient models and cut that bill in half.
Every American generates in a lifetime an average of 600 times his or her body weight in trash. Shed those pounds by reducing, reusing and recycling.
Every energy-efficient fluorescent light bulb you install in your home will cost about $30 less to run than an incandescent bulb. Turning off lights and appliances when not in use saves even more.
It takes more than 500,000 trees to produce the newspapers Americans read in one Sunday. By recycling your papers, you can save a tree every two weeks.
Every 20 minutes, enough cars are dumped into junkyards to create a stack as high as the Empire State Building. Keep cars, bikes, stereos and other possessions in good working condition so they will last longer.
Each year, Americans throw away 28.6 million tons of yard waste, then turn around and buy 2.1 million tons of fertilizer. Start a backyard compost heap and save time and money while you reduce waste.
If you convince two people to do something for the environment, and the next minute they convince two people, and so on, it will take only 28 minutes to get everyone in the United States to take action.
One letter to a member of congress can change a vote. Write your local, state and national representatives and let them know how you feel about environmental issues. Your letters count.
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by CNB