Free the Planet's (National) Beginnings
The national Free the Planet! was founded in 1995 from the student led campaign in response to the anti-environmental congress led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Student leaders across the country gathered and launched an emergency campaign to stop Newt from repealing many existing laws that protected the environment to benefit large manufacturing companies. They launched a petition drive for the Environmental Bill of Rights to show Congress that Americans support the environment. Through monthly actions and conferences, earth day actions, rallies, press conferences and numerous other petition-gathering events the student activists gathered over 1,000,000 signatures. On November 1, 1995, only six months after the campaign’s beginning, activists delivered the signatures to Newt on the day before the vote on the Environmental Protection Agency’s appropriations bill. Congress voted to get rid of the anti-environmental additions to the bill showing that they clearly understood FTP’s message.
Free The Planet! at OSU Highlights
2003/04: FTP at OSU partnered with Students for Labor and Economic Justice for local coffee shops to offer Fair Trade Certified coffee. We also held the first Earth Day celebration on the OSU campus.
2005: FTP coordinated multiple large actions for the Victoria’s Dirty Secret campaign including a float in the OSU Homecoming parade and rallies at The Limited Brands headquarters. We also held the 2nd consecutive OSU Earth Day celebration.
2006: FTP at OSU planned and co-sponsored a large Earth Day celebration at Ohio State with the Ohio Union Activities Board (OUAB). All-day activities including the music of local bands with headliner Garaj Mahal, food, education, crafts and local vendors. We also planned a Victoria’s Dirty Secret rally at The Limited headquarters at their annual shareholder’s meeting.
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