Update, Friday, 2 p.m.: The Earth Day celebration has been reschedule for April 26 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Centennial Park.
The celebration of Earth Day in our town goes back to 2009, when the Southwest Organization for Sustainability (SOS) volunteers gathered the community for the first time.
In 2025, 16 years later, our community will gather on Saturday, April 19, to pay homage to our home planet.
On the national stage (earthday.org), the Earth Day theme is “Our Power, Our Planet” and is intended to spotlight renewable energy with a goal of tripling the global generation of clean electricity by the year 2030.
Back here at home, our day will begin at 9 a.m. in Centennial Park with booth setup and the mindfulness hour, which will include the opening earth blessing, a sound bath, yoga in the park and a wetland tour with the Riverwalk Naturalist Program.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., activities for young and old will abound — a community tea gathering, World Migratory Bird Day, a poetry slam and open mic, tour of the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership (GGP) Education Dome, a youth art booth, chalk art for children, and the 26 (and counting) community booths that will celebrate our businesses and nonprofits and what they bring to our community.
We will have pastries, muffins, warm breakfasts and coffee for the early birds, and empanadas, cold salads, tamales, small bites and trail mix for later on.
Finally, the day will end as it began, reminding us of the spiritual nature of our celebration drawing our attention to the earth — the reason we came together in the first place. And, new this year, organizers are inviting folks to join in a drumming circle as part of the finale. Bring your drum.
Before closing, let’s take a historical look at Earth Day.
April 22, 2025, will be the 62nd celebration of Earth Day, which began in 1970 with a demonstration by 20 million Americans and has resulted in the passing of legislation.
The Environmental Protection Agency, and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts, all came out of this effort — legislation which today is in danger of revocation.
In 1990, Earth Day went global with 200 million people in 141 countries participating. Today, more than 1 billion people from 192 countries participate and the need has never been greater, especially in our own country, once the world leader in protecting the planet’s natural resources. Check www.earthday.org for more details.
Also plan to attend the GGP Environmental Film Festival at the Liberty Theater on the actual Earth Day, April 22, at 6 p.m. This event brings the new film “Common Ground” to our community. It is a film about regenerative agriculture and its solutions to the environmental crisis we face. Tickets are available at pagosagreen.org.
Our motivation for this Earth Day Celebration is found in these words by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
