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Posts Tagged ‘Earth Day’

Next week marks the 40th annual Earth Day and Nashville will start celebrations early with a free daylong event at Centennial Park on Saturday.

Observed on April 22, Earth Day is designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin established the observance to bring environmental issues to the political forefront. He’s written that the movement toward the observance began in 1962 when he convinced President John F. Kennedy to launch a tour across the United States to raise environmental awareness.

The tour was not successful in putting environmental concerns on the national political agenda, but Sen. Nelson continued to speak about the growing crisis – often on college campuses. He said it was college campus protests against the Vietnam War that made him think students and grassroots efforts were the way to get attention for environmental issues.

“If we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda,” said Sen. Nelson writing about Earth Day’s history. “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.”

Earth Day observances are held around the world now and organizers estimate that more than 1 billion people will celebrate this year.

Nashville holds its 9th annual Earth Day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Centennial Park, an appropriate location as Centennial Park was the beginning of Nashville’s public park system.

This year’s festival, with the theme “Strike a Chord,” will help the community take another step toward Mayor Karl Dean’s goal of making Nashville the greenest city in the Southeast. The free event will include more than 60 booths sponsored by community and environmental groups and government agencies with hands-on activities for all ages.

The celebration also features two areas with live music. A youth stage starts up at 11 a.m. and continues through 1 p.m. with a percussion ensemble, step performances, Polynesian dance and others.

At 1 p.m., performers hit the Main Stage and continue throughout the day. The lineup includes Homemade Water, The Apache Relay, Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek and banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck Acoustic with Friends.

Folks can take part in scavenger hunt; a youth area where children can make reused and recycled eco art and crafts, and more; and the Food and Farming area with lots of exhibitors and workshops ranging from foraging for wild edibles and growing your own food to preserving seasonal foods and composting kitchen scraps for a better garden.

The event also features a Green Model Home where experts at E3 Innovate demonstrate how easy it is to reduce your home’s energy needs. The model home will have examples of eco-friendly interior and exterior materials, and renewable energy systems such as a geothermal heat pump and solar panels.

Another area lets you donate your broken-down bike or bike accessories to help kids learn bike mechanics and bike safety and possibly take home a free ride. ReCycle Your Cycle accepts tax-deductible donations of bicycles and related items on behalf of Oasis Center.

And the Merchant Village features booths and vendors with environmentally-friendly items such as locally-made clothing, organic products, locally-made food, daily-use consumables, environmental publications, and other green items.

So whether it’s for the music, the food, the free family activities, the money-saving tips, or the chance to teach your kids (and yourself) how to live greener, be sure to head to Centennial Park on Saturday.

Visit my blog to read more from Nashville lawyer Mitch Grissim.

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