Songs to Celebrate Earth Day, Climate Champion Sharon Dennis Wyeth, Plenty More Coast-to-Coast Earth Day Fests!

SONGS TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY

Earth Day is all about telling Mother Earth that you hear her. Listen to the Earth is a musical project by composer James Grant and hosted by Choral Artists of Sarasota, Florida. The event will run from Friday, April 22 through Sunday, April 24.

The group Choral Artists initiated the project to use music to raise awareness of environmental issues. According to the website, Choral Artists is an organization “Recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as a sister-related activity of the Earth Optimism Summit and an official activity of the Earth Day Organization.”

Choral artists partnered with a number of organizations to bring the event to life. Partners include the Science and Environmental Council, Save Our Seabirds and Venice Area Audubon Society, to name a few. The event will also host a panel of specialists to discuss the state of the environment.

Panelists include Jane Alexander, award-winning actress and author of Wild Things, Wild Places: Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth, and Dr. Terry Root, environmental scientist and co-recipient with Vice President Al Gore of the 2007 Nobel Prize.

DEEPER DIVE: Choral Artists Sarasota

MEXICO’S DRIVE ELECTRIC EARTH DAY AND NYC’S CAR-FREE EARTH DAY IS BACK

Drive Electric Earth Day is an offshoot of the long-running annual event Drive Electric Week. The week-long event connects electrical vehicle owners and the EV curious with the latest EV tech and more. In honor of Earth Day, Porsche Queretaro in Queretaro, Mexico is hosting an event called Supercharging Mexico where there will be live demonstrations of one of the few and first ultra chargers installed in Mexico! Friday, April 22, 2022 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm CDT

If you live in Queretaro, finding ways to reduce reliance on fossil fuels is important because Accuweather reported recently that Queretaro’s air quality has reached a high level of pollution.

And, speaking of cars, the 6th annual “Car-Free Earth Day” returns to New York City. This year, 100 streets across the five boroughs will be blocked-off and go car-free on Saturday, April 23rd, the day after Earth Day.

Ydanis Rodriquez, NY Transportsportation Commissioner says, “Car free Earth Day is a growing tradition that allows New York City’s car-free streets to come alive.” Rodriquez launched the idea in 2016 when he was leading the transportation committee as council member. There will be activities like workshops and performances in all five boroughs. Keep an eye out for workshops hosted by the Citizens’ Climate Lobby to learn more about how to work with elected representatives to influence climate policy.

DEEPER DIVE: Gothamist, CNN  Drive Electric Earth Day, Electrek 

CLIMATE CHAMPION AND CHILDREN’S AUTHOR, SHARON DENNIS WYETH’S “THE RIVER AND ME”

Washington, DC native, children’s book author and now climate champion, Sharon Dennis Wyeth once said, “As a child, reading saved my life.” Now as an adult, she’s hoping her latest book, The River and Me will help save the life of Washington, DC’s Anacostia River.  

Wyeth was commissioned to pen The River and Me by American Girl Dolls as a companion to that company’s latest, Evette Peeters. The book portrays Evette on a quest to restore health to the Anacostia, a river that holds personal memories for her family.

As a DC youth in the early 1960s, Wyeth recalls swimming in clean tributaries of the Anacostia River. She says the clean-up event described in the book, featuring the doll Evette and her friends “was inspired by what she’d learned about current efforts in D.C. by… community-based environmental groups to restore the Anacostia to full health.”

Wyeth is hoping to inspire a new generation of climate champions through her book. And why does Wyeth and The River and Me matter to us? It’s a great example of how one generation sharing memories frolicking in the natural world can inspire another generation to fight for a similar chance at play with Nature.

The River and Me is Wyeth’s first environmentally-focused novel, but it’s her second river-themed book. Her first is titled, Once on This River. It’s a tale about an African girl’s voyage to New York in 1760 to free her illegally enslaved uncle.

DEEPER DIVE: Sharon’s Site, Publisher’s Weekly

NYU EARTH MONTH ACTIVITIES AND SIERRA CLUB OF SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY

New York University’s (NYU) month-long celebration of the environment is back. The month-long focus on the environment is part of NYU’s efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, support teaching and research, and provide resources and guidance in establishing a culture of sustainability at NYU. 

Earth Day Street Fair: Friday, April 22 | 11am-3pm EST, Schwartz Plaza. Environmental and Racial Justice Network Spring Summit: Friday, April 29 | 9am-2pm EST VRI Conference: “Macroeconomic Consequences and Implications of Decarbonization”

Out of the the Big Apple and over to the Golden State, the Sierra Club of Southern Alameda County is running their Grand Trash Tournament for Earth Day 2022 from April 15th to May 10th, 2022. 

The club launched the tourney because well the pandemic has been rough on our environment. The National Academy of Sciences of the United States recently published a research article that showed that “more than eight million tons of pandemic-associated plastic waste have been generated globally, with more than 25,000 tons entering the global ocean.”

500 tons is about the weight of two to three blue whales. Multiply that by 50 to get 25,000 or approximately the weight of 150 blue whales! ack! 

Anyway, back to the tournament rules. There’s two ways to participate in the tournament. First way is through collection of enough trash to fill two 20-gallon bags. The second way is the number of items you pick up, must be a minimum of 400 items and you gotta take a photo and submit it through a link. 

You can do it individually or in a group. There’s no requirement of where you do it, the main thing is to get out and pick it up!

DEEPER DIVE: Sierra Club, PNAS,  NYU