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MY BUTTON
MY BUTTON

Anti-littering. Recycling. Clean air and clean water.  Bicycle-friendly streets.  These were the basics. This was what we were fighting for...

 

The G.V. Ecology Club was founded in 1970 in response to growing awareness of the environmental issues around us.  Here is our story...

Background

It was the late 60s - early 70s.  So much was happening on a daily basis, we all thought the world had gone crazy.  In the middle of it all, trash was piling up, the sky and water turned muddy, trees were dying and disappearing.  We had to do something...

Golden Valley Jr. High Ecology Club

Inspired by the first Earth Day, the Golden Valley Jr. High Ecology Club was formed in November 1970.  The students were concerned and wanting to help.  How did we stay informed and organized?

Activities

All of these changes for the worse around us were pointed out by teachers and others.  What could be done about it?  We started simply, kept going and soon had a roster of activities that kept us busy and involved and, hopefully, helping the world around us.

Timeline

For some context, major events world-wide and nationally will be posted here, next to what small, local actions we were involved with.

 

How did this influence our future lives?  Hopefully your responses can be posted here, letting us know how those early experiences influenced your future choices and direction.

 

We Remember...

So many people and places that got involved and made a difference.  The Who, Where and When is included below - your suggestions welcome.

So many issues, so many images...click, move around & double-click to explore more...

Editor's Note:

Documenting the story of "Nora's Raiders" - the Golden Valley Jr. High School Ecology Club - came to me when I began to talk to present-day students and young people about what environmental issues they were aware of and concerned about.  The Nora of "Nora's Raiders" is my mother, Eleonora Sztaray, whose early observances of student behavior, general concern about the environment and what kind of world her generation was leaving behind for future generations, led her to tap into the issues of the day and make them relevant for her students.

 

I felt that so many of the issues that we were concerned about and the activities we were involved in - all basic tenents of ecology - have become so engrained in our everyday lives that we have lost the perspective that there was a time that these issues were not obvious, that we had to learn about them and educate others.  Back in the era before sustainability, green-for-profit, before it was ever considered "cool," there were little groups of students who were picking up the trash, collecting newspapers and cans for recycling (for no or little cash), raising money for bikepaths and safe bike storage, and planting trees.  I wanted to take a few images and memories and present them here, if only to remind us how far we have come....

- Zsuzsa Sztaray

Interactive Ecology Photo Gallery
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