Brown and White Vol. 107 no. 44

              the brown and white lehigii univt*»aij * ruunacu in i094 all the lehigh news first vol 107 no 44 tuesday may 2 2000 environmental activist speaks of campaigns by matthew cohen news writer mike ewall a member of the student environmental action coalition spoke about the group's new campaigns thursday at rauch business center as part of this year's earth day celebration according to its mission statement seac is a student and youth run nation al network of progressive organizations and individuals whose aim is to uproot environmental injustices through action and education in his lecture ewall said seac's focus is on two main green energy campaigns green energy is energy that is pro duced without a minimal amount of harm to the environment such as wind produced energy and solar panels seac's first campaign deals with stop ping the building of a coal-to-oil refinery in pennsylvania's schuylkill county ewall said the rich family who is building the refinery plans to call the oil that is produced from it ultra clean fuel seac is fighting that claim by starting a campaign that calls the energy ultra dirty fuel he seemed to be outraged that such a product could receive such tremendous government support waste management processors inc the company owned by the rich family is receiving nearly 47 million in federal grants each year along with 7 to 8 million in subsidies over the next three to four years from the us department of energy to build the coal to oil refinery they get all the profit we get all die pol lution and we get to pay for it ewall said seac's mission statement states the second campaign deals with the con troversy over whether burning things can really be considered a form of green energy ewall talked about green mountain energy the nation's leading green energy marketer he said the green energy they produce is not so green because it is really made by burning things such as biomass and animal waste seac is not alone in its protesting of the green energy issue ewall mentioned that 13 groups have decided to boycott green mountain energy because they disagree that incineration can be classified as green energy he also talked about green mountain energy's unfriendliness to its protesters on the phone and in person and then told a story about how they outright lied to him about one issue ewall said he went to green mountain energy and asked for a list of their suppliers he received a list of nine but when he called the compa nies to confirm their affiliation with green mountain energy the majority of them denied they ever had any deal ings with the energy company a sales manager at one of the nine companies said to ewall if they're claiming that we associate with them in any way it's fraud outright fraud during the lecture ewall also men tioned that many of these energy makers producing green energy are hiding behind a green-e certification one of seac's pamphlets states that these green-e certified energy makers are selling bogus green energy that either makes no difference for the environ ment just shifting around that power b&w photo by melissa brown students and faculty members mingle between information tables at thursday's earth day celebration in the courtyard of rauch business center theatre professor speaks about play ripa provides in-depth look at background work for the importance of being earnest by tiffany fowler news writer theatre professor augustine ripa jr spoke wednesday of his work as direc tor of lehigh's production of oscar wilde's the importance of being earnest at this semester's final brown bag lunch his fireside chat sans a fire was tided style not sincerity and centered on the preparation that went into the pro duction of this particular play i've been scared of this play for a long time ripa said even shakespeare is more accessible than oscar wilde ripa's presentation was the first col laboration between the brown bag lunch series and the theater department according to susan cady director of information resources administra tion and planning the joint program went smoothly i hope we can collaborate again with the theater department cady said ripa showed how much goes into a production by theater students in order for students to learn about the play its time period and the author ripa had his actors and stage managers enroll in a production class centered on the play ripa's goal was to have a historically accurate production so he studied wilde's life and work as well as victorian etiquette ripa said he and the actors strug gled with questions like what does a 19th century engagement ring look like what's the difference between a butler and a manservant matthew schmidt 03 said i was amazed by ripa's efforts to get even the smallest details in the play accurate i'm really inspired to go see the importance of being earnest after hearing him speak ripa spoke extensively on wilde's personal life as well as his work he gave biographical information on the author and distributed booklets of quotes from wilde you inevitably develop a kind of crush on the author ripa said wilde takes things that are apparent truths and twists and turns them ripa titled his lecture style not sincerity from a line from the play that reads in matters of grave impor tance style not sincerity is of vital importance he said lines like this are what make this a play that is so extraordinary that's a funny line and you'll laugh at it in the play but it rings a couple of times up here in the head ripa said cady also commented on die duality of the play even a play that appears to be a comedy actually has a great deal of serious meaning and work behind it she said it also is a way to understand the time in which it was set while simultaneously drawing our attention to some very timeless issues and human foibles the importance of being earnest has three more scheduled perfor mances may 3-5 at 8 p.m in the diamond theatre of zoellner arts center contact the box office for ticket information see earth page 5 h hawks fall to hobart a touch of france a brain disorder leads juzck college statesmen in brought to brodhead to confusion of colors fac men's lacrosse see as part of international and numbers see bigger than its brain castellano's corner 13 world news briefs 2 science briefs 5 baseball 16 genetically made food 6 e .. . . 3 source:http://www.uselessknowl golf 16 florida wetlands 7 edge.com