The Earth Day Planning Team reports a day full of activities at our Earth Day Celebration on Sunday, April 21 — the day before Earth Day.
There will truly be something for everyone, whether it be updates via short talks on relevant topics, nature walks, being in community, participating in doing good for the Earth or seeing how the community is engaged in that pursuit, a plethora of activities for kids, and music and food for all.
The day begins appropriately with a time for reflection to remember that we all are involved, whether willingly or not, in determining the future of our planet, Earth. And our involvement is inherent in almost every decision we make every day.
Dr. Jane Goodall captured that reality in one sentence: “What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Perhaps we can all begin the day with that thought at play somewhere in the mind and, since there is no “right way” to engage in reflection, we offer a variety that goes from stillness through purposeful movement to walking, culminating in the Opening Ceremony.
Schedule of events
• 9 a.m.: Mindfulness Hour begins with a choice of sitting meditation, yoga or the Riverwalk Naturalist Tour.
• 9:45 a.m.: Opening Ceremony, beginning with a sound bath and culminating with a dedication.
• 10 a.m.: Gently Used Clothing Swap begins and runs until noon.
• 10:15 a.m.: Talks on three relevant topics in the amphitheater — “The Hazards of Plastic,” “Growing Domes for Seniors,” and “Recycling and Composting.”
• 11 a.m.: Featured presenter Paula Woerner of Wolfwood Refuge will present.
• Noon: Community tea ceremony and celebratory feast.
• 1 p.m.: More relevant talks in the amphitheater — “Earth Day, Past and Present” and “Audubon World Migratory Bird Day.”
• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Community booths open.
• Full day for kids: sidewalk chalk art starts at 10 a.m.; solar car races start at 1:30 p.m.; Earth Day costume parade starts at 1:30 p.m.
• Music during and at the end of the day, 3 p.m.: Charles Martinez and Xavier O’Luain and Friends.
How to be involved
Clearly there is a full day planned, but there is space for more community involvement.
We invite individual, organizations and businesses wishing to display their role in doing “good for the Earth.” We would like to hear from you now (see email below).
Our practice is to have a map showing the location of all tables/booths and to share that before the event.
To date the following organizations will have tables/displays for your interest and edification: Daughters of the American Revolution, Archuleta Democrats, EV Auto Demo, San Juan Water Conservancy District, Weminuche Audubon, Native Plant Garden, Audubon Rockies, Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, Healthy Archuleta doing business as Food Coalition, Pagosa Farmers Market, Southwest Organization for Sustainability, CSU Extension Seed Exchange, Habitat for Humanity, Eckankar, Pagosa Weather Team, Wolfwood Refuge, Archuleta Seniors Inc., San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership, Wildfire Adapted Partnership, Archuleta County Public Health and Build Pagosa.
For those not interested in having a display at the celebration, perhaps joining the Earth Day Planning Team is of interest. If so, please email or call and we will send out notification of the date, time and location for our next planning meeting.
If neither of these options work, then just be sure to come on down and enjoy the show as an observer participant. For more details, watch for our beautiful poster that is going up all over town now.
The Earth Day Planning Team is also promoting another Earth Day celebratory event, the Environmental Film Festival sponsored by the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, which starts Friday night, April 19, with a gala dinner and film showing and continues all day Saturday with all of the films selected from the prize winners at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival in February. Tickets are available at www.pagosagreen.org.
For more information or to be involved, email sospagosa@hotmail.com or leave a message at (970) 264-5232.
