Environmental Responsibility

by Claude E. Welch Jr.

1972 was a time when campus interest in environmental matters was on the upsurge. The distinguished biologist and writer Rachel Carson had published her indictment of the abuse of pesticides in The Silent Spring. UB faculty and students had commemorated ecological concerns by establishing Rachel Carson College. Lake Erie beaches smelled like the cesspools they had become.

Environmental responsibility begins with the individual, my ecologically astute students informed me. And don't faculty always learn from their students?

I took two steps then, which I continue to this day. Rather than join the throngs in the UB parking lots, I started to bicycle to work - and to park my vehicle directly in my office! When steak is offered, I salivate but decline; "no red meat" has been my mantra for a quarter-century plus.

Bicycling evokes other memories, such as trying to convince inhabitants of Sweet Home Road that riders along the proposed inter-campus bikeway were highly unlikely to hurl beer bottles onto their lawns, or to blare obnoxious music while pedaling between campuses.

The quality of life we enjoy in Buffalo has been enhanced by the persistent push for a "fair place" for bicyclists. The Amherst Bicycle Trail that follows the banks of the rerouted Ellicott Creek north of the new campus is hugely successful. It's clear evidence that respect for the environment means an enjoyable as well as responsible lifestyle.