NIU students have a chance to help save the world.

Earth Week, April 16 to 22, and the 20th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 are worldwide events to alert people to growing environmental threats, issues and problems.

Activities held every day at the King Memorial Commons include day time concerts, petition drives, letter writing campaigns and demonstrations, said Rob McCormack, a member of the Student Environmental Action Committee.

“We are now at a crisis point, we have to realize how we treat the environment. It (environmental harm) is catching up with us and we are responsible for degrading the environment,” McCormack said.

SEAC President Michael Baltasi said the intent of the week is to create awareness in the NIU community.

“Students are future leaders who will inherit the world and when we do, we will inherit its problems,” Baltasi said. “We need to be educated so we can take action now and save the world,” he said.

Graduate student Vicky King said people do not pay enough attention to environmental problems. People think about it but do not do anything about it, such as the rain forests, she said.

King said the activities held on campus are fine. Most people participate in the activities just to join in, she said.

However, some students will not continue to help save the planet after the excitement of Earth Week is over which is awful, King said.

Senior Sheryl Hennig said she is aware of earth problems and something must be done about them. The Earth Week activities will help educate people on “what to do to help save the earth,” she said.

Hopefully it will make people aware of environmental problems enough to do something about it, Hennig said.

SEAC member Paul Doss said some ways to help save the environment are to recycle and not buy products with unneeded plastic or paper packaging.

Senior Sheryl White said the Earth Week activities are a good way to show people what is being wasted on our planet.

Freshman Fatrice Austin said there should be more recyclable newspaper bins around campus because most people do not go out of their way to drop them off.

The first Earth Day in 1970 helped to create the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency, according to an article in the Campus Voice magazine.