Teach-In for the Environment
The cultural sea change of the 1960s inspired a generation already engaged in civil rights, women’s rights, and an end to the Vietnam War—to demand the protection of the planet. As the environmental movement gained traction, teach-ins were planned across the country to celebrate the first Earth Day in 1970. The largest and most visible of these, drawing an estimated 50,000 participants, was held in Ann Arbor. The five-day multi-faceted event included 125 seminars, speeches, workshops, panels, debates, forums, rallies, demonstrations, films, field trips, and concerts that unfolded at locations on campus and throughout the town.
Though the school would not be renamed until 1992, a new era had begun. The following decades would reshape SNR in profound ways.
Doug Scott (BS ’66)
Scott was an SNR student studying Outdoor Recreation under Professor Grant Sharpe when he became a primary organizer of Teach-in for the Environment as co-chair of Environmental Action for Survival, Inc. (ENACT). He was also named to Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson’s national planning committee for similar events around the country. Scott later became an environmental lobbyist, grassroots organizer, wilderness historian, and author—and played a major role in saving over 110 million acres of Alaskan wilderness.