By Rich Fisher
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-897804.mp3
Tulsa, Oklahoma – Earth Day was first observed on April 22, 1970. Today, on the 40th anniversary of this important occasion, we're thinking about the close relationship that exists between the environment and the developing countries of Africa. On this edition of StudioTulsa, we listen back to an interview with Professor James Igoe of Dartmouth University that we first aired in October of last year. At that time, Igoe was among the academics who spoke at an "Africa and the Environment" conference held here on the TU campus. Igoe's address at TU was entitled "African Environments in the Context of Our Current Ecological and Economic Crises" --- and that is what he's likewise talking about on today's StudioTulsa. As Igoe notes at the outset of our program: "Clearly, Africans . . . have a very long-standing, multi-generational relationship with the environment. . . . What gets complicated about [this relationship] is, of course, that all these things were disrupted during colonialism --- and that those kinds of disruptions continue to this day."