Written in April 1990 for The Diamondback, the independent student newspaper at the University of Maryland
The rain clouds came and went, the wet, soggy afternoon mud turned cold and hard by nightfall, and as performer after performer came on stage to pledge their allegiance to the planet they have no intention of losing, it was the Earth that played centerstage.
Earth Day 1990 couldn’t have been more perfect.
“This is not just an event, it’s an inflection point of history that puts an end to a decade of greed, hypocrisy and audacity and moves into a green decade,” said Dennis Hayes, member of Concerts for the Environment. “We can no longer continue to do what has been done in the last decade. We demand a change. We desperately need one.”
Merriweather Post Pavilion played host to the concert of the ’90s Saturday afternoon. From the folkish musings of the Indigo Girls to the hip hop reggae sounds of KRS One and Ziggy Marley, the concert bridged all forms of music to unite in one common cause-to save the environment.
While on stage it was indeed the music that was the forefront, backstage it was the issues at hand that was foremost on the performers’ mind.
“We are not here for the music as much as we are here to show the world how important the Earth is as our mother — our original mother — and that we must take care of it,” the energetic Marley said. “I’m not going to make today Earth Day, every day should be Earth Day. Keep the message alive that people should take care of their mamas just like you take care of your mama.”
The performers stressed that it was a lack of education more than anything else that has caused the environment to be in such disarray.
“I think it’s a sad state of affairs when the entertainment business has to bring the issue to a forefront, and not the political leaders whose job it is to help protect our world,” said Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M. “Our political leaders are not answering quick enough. It’s up to the individual to make a difference, I firmly believe that.
“Education is the key, and we know how bad it is in this country,” Stipe added. “There are so many simple things the individual can do to change the world. But it is ignorance that is out there.”
Billy Bragg went beyond the government to blame the large multinational businesses for the world’s severe environmental problems. Pointing out that it is the multinationals that own the government more than vice-versa, change begins with boycotts and attacks on big business.
“All of the big corporations are geared to making us buy more and more things, consume more things and make things to look more like artifacts than anything else,” Bragg said. “If we are going to save the world, we have to control our own consumerism, and stop from wanting and wanting and wanting.”
“This is a cause that obviously anyone with sense is going to support,” said singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock. “It’s not really a cause, it’s more fundamental than that. I mean you’re not going to get a lobby of anti-environmentalist saying ‘Look here, we on behalf of Exxon would like to put an opposing view-there are far to many seabirds cluttering up the horizon with their blasted feathers.’ ”
