Image caption: Students at The University of Texas at Arlington gathered around before dropping an internal combustion engine into a shallow grave on campus for Earth Day April 22, 1970. Alpha Rho Chi, the UTA architecture fraternity, led the "funeral services" and its pledges wore surgical and gas masks as the engine was lowered into its grave and a live oak tree was then planted on top. From the UTA Libraries Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection. Identifier AR406-6-5975 [fr. 31].

Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22nd and highlights environmental stewardship, activism, and sustainability. While Earth Day is now celebrated worldwide, it began in response to the 1969 Santa Barbra oil spill in California. Local activists pushed for environmental regulations and environmental education in schools and public life. The first Earth Day in 1970 included environmental teach-ins as well as rallies, marches, and other actions. 

It's estimated that 20 million Americans took part in the first Earth Day. Environmental justice gradually became another important issue discussed in public forums, and Earth Day is now the world's largest civic observance. Below are just a few examples of resources that can be used to study Earth Day, the environmental movement, and sustainability. If you need assistance with any research topic reach out to a librarian.

Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures and the Environment

Early descriptions of nature remind us how unique the animals and plants of North American really are if we look at them with fresh eyes. Search for the book Description of the New Netherlands which was originally written by Adriaen van der Donck in 1640. The English translation found in this database was published in 1841 by the New York Historical Society. While this translation is now understood to be flawed, van der Donck’s sincere attempts to set the record straight about certain topics shines through. One of these topics is the North American beaver. 

Van der Donck provides a brief summary of beaver related misconceptions including a persistent fable that they chew off their own testicles to save themselves from hunters. Why the testicles? It seems there was also persistent confusion about which parts of the beaver were valued by humans for their perceived medicinal applications. While van der Donck doesn’t fully understand that the sought after parts are actually the oily castor scent glands, he determines through his extensive studies that they can’t be the testicles.

He also dispels the notion that North America’s largest rodent will fight to the death using their sharp front teeth. Instead, he describes the way that beavers use their teeth to build dams and lodges and how they immediately flee to the water when threatened. He writes that “when they run, which they do with great activity, their whole body appears to touch the ground and appears to be too heavy for their small short legs: but far from it, they are well provided by nature with strong sinews and muscles and are very strong.” Having raised some young beavers as pets, he also knows that they eat plants and not fish, as many had assumed.

Nexis Uni

Few environmental activists have made headlines like Erin Brockovich. Julia Roberts won an Academy Award portraying a fictionalized version of Brockovich in the 2000 movie bearing her name, but you can learn the real story in Nexis Uni. Register for a free account with your UTA credentials to get started.

Nexis Uni is a legal database that includes court cases, legal reporting, newspapers, legislation, and much more. Search for “Erin Brockovich” to see court cases and news stories detailing her leadership in a landmark class action lawsuit against PG&E. 

PG&E contaminated the drinking water of the small California town of Hinkley in the 1950s and 1960s. The chemical chromium 6 was discharged from natural gas pipelines into unlined ponds and percolated into the area’s groundwater. While working in a clerical position at a local law firm, Brockovich discovered evidence that PG&E knew about the contamination and covered it up. She recruited hundreds of Hinkley residents with illnesses ranging from chronic nosebleeds to cancer for a class action lawsuit that was settled for $333 million in 1996, the largest settlement ever paid in a class action lawsuit at that time.

Brockovich has continued as a consumer advocate in many other areas including work on behalf of the Pawnee Nation to demonstrate a link between fracking and increased earthquake activity in Oklahoma. Court documents and news articles related to these and other cases can also be found in Nexis Uni.

Twentieth-Century American Poetry

This database includes the complete text of many works by major American poets as well as biographies, analysis, and criticism. Wendell Berry is a poet, novelist, and essayist who sees human beings and nature as inextricably bound in a way that the modern world often ignores. Berry is especially interested in preserving rural communities and small-scale farming methods.

While not all readers agree with Berry’s idealized version of the simple life, his criticisms of commercialization, consumerism, and large scale mechanized farming resonate with many. In his free verse poem Some Further Words from The American Poetry Review (May/June 2002) he writes “I don't believe that life / or knowledge can be given by machines. / The machine economy has set afire / the household of the human soul, / and all the creatures are burning within it…” 

Other Resources

Many other databases are available to help researchers learn about the environment and advocate for the issues they care about:

Gale OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy

GreenFILE

Sustainability Reference Center

Gale OneFile: Gardening and Horticulture

The UTA Libraries Display Committee works to curate library materials that highlight/showcase resources that students can check out to learn more about each month’s theme. Check out our display on the 2nd floor of UTA Central Library!