will oversee preparations for Earth Day 2000. Mr. Hayes began the first Earth Day in 1970 after being contacted by Gaylord Nelson, who came up with the idea for the event.Already, Earth Day organizers are telling people to become active in promoting new sources of energy. Leaders
of the group hope to win widespread support far in advance of the next Earth Day so that they can influence political and business leaders.
"We think it is time to move beyond those technologies that were developed in the 19th century - diesel engines and gasoline-powered internal combustion engines and steam engines and turbines and hydropower reservoirs - to new energy sources powered by the sun, the wind, biological sources, hydrogen, geothermal. We have in hand the technology to begin
that process swiftly," Hayes said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has stated that the government also hopes to develop new sources of energy. Already, programs for using sunlight and increased amounts of wind energy are underway.
"At the end of the 20th century we have entered a new era where instead of the kinds of environmental problems we have historically faced - where rivers have caught on fire and lakes have died and vast tracks that have been clear-cut - now we have
entered an era where we are fundamentally changing the nature of the entire planet," Hayes said.
