It was 35 years ago that the nation celebrated the first Earth Day. During demonstrations in the spring of 1970, people across the United States expressed their concerns about what was happening to their rivers, lakes, land and air.

Following in the footsteps of former U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, founder of Earth Day, ISU Campus Greens and several other student organizations will meet on Central Campus on Friday to share information about their groups and attempt to make students and ISU community members aware of environmental issues.

“There is just a small group of us working to reconstitute the Green Party on campus, but we feel that someone needs to make an effort to speak for the earth,” said Jo Ann Simpson, ISU Campus Greens president. “Working to influence the direction of the ISU Campus Greens is one way to make our voices heard.”

Several other ISU organizations will have tables during the Earth Day Fair to share information about their groups and how students can get involved in Earth-friendly activities. Some of the organizations are the Geology Club, Wildlife Care Clinic, Student Environmental Council, ISU Recycling Committee, ISU Forestry Club, Student Organic Farm and Society for Conservation Biology, among others.

“We will be trying to let students know what is going on with global warming, students don’t really know about a lot of problems and hopefully this will make them take notice,” said John Tillo, vice president of the Student Environmental Council.

The idea of Earth Day evolved over seven years, according to the Earth Day Web site. Nelson felt everyone but the political establishment noticed evidence of environmental degradation everywhere and he wanted to thrust environmental issues into the political mainstream.

“Politics should be about bringing people together, working together to educate and make positive changes,” said Simpson, graduate student in interdisciplinary graduate studies. “This Earth Day Fair is about a small group of people trying to learn better how to leave a lighter footprint as we pass through this life so that the others after us can still enjoy its beauty and provision.”

With a chance to increase awareness on concerns that will affect the Earth, some ISU community members believe the issues are much bigger than what is portrayed to students once a year during Earth Day.

“Ames has a good public transportation system, for example, but it could use help with recycling since it is difficult to recycle glass,” said Camomilia Bright, graduate student in geological and atmospheric sciences and organizer of the Earth Day Fair. “Hopefully students will become aware of everything with the environment and becoming more involved with not something as simple as recycling, but also knowing how to make environmentally safe choices.”

More could be done to educate ISU students and Ames residents about concerns that could help save the planet.

“Even though there are a lot of opportunities for people to recycle, people should take more interest in sustainability,” said Gloria Erickson, adviser to the Student Environmental Council.

Student groups featured at the fair will have food-related information available, including how to get accessibility to locally grown, pesticide-free produce. Batteries and old cell phones will be collected for disposal. Slow Food Ames, a chapter of the international association that promotes food and wine culture and defends food and agriculture biodiversity worldwide, will have locally grown greens available for a taste test over the noon hour. Along with the many demonstrations, the ISU Forestry Club will feature Smokey Bear, to promote prevention of wildfires.

The fair is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday on Central Campus. In case of rain, the event will move to Curtis Hall.