Exxon-Mobil, International Paper and Georgia Pacific bring your earth day 2005....

University activists boycott Earth Day
Environmentalists oppose sponsorship
By Laura Milazzo
Contributing Writer


Baton Rouge celebrated its Earth Day Festival downtown this Sunday with food, bands, educational booths and artists, but it lacked one thing — University student environmentalists.

“Most of the students who would be here are protesting it,” said Caroline Garcia, an art senior who attended Earth Day to promote Food Not Bombs, a student organization that targets hunger.

Many student environmentalists chose not to attend Baton Rouge Earth Day because the event was sponsored by corporations like Exxon-Mobil, International Paper and Georgia Pacific — corporations whose actions they view as environmentally unfriendly.