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Could this be the Biggest Earth Day ever? EarthFair on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22 |
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This Earth Day, we celebrate the year we finally turned the corner on the general acceptance of the reality of Climate Change. An Inconvenient Truth brought home to the mainstream the power of the science that implicates human causes for the shifts in planetary climate. A Zogby poll in August 2006 reported that 74% of the Americans most likely to vote say that events over the past two years have left them “more convinced that Global Warming is happening,” with 2 in 5 (40%) saying that they are “much more convinced.” In this context, we can look forward to the biggest Earth Day celebration in many years, as these concerns about climate energize San Diegans to turn out in record numbers in Balboa Park on April 22, from 10am – 5pm. Already the world’s largest free environmental fair and Earth Day celebration, EarthFair 2007 will host more than 230 exhibitors representing organizations, businesses and local government departments who will show you how to think globally and act locally to make a difference. There are lots of new things at this year’s EarthFair so if you haven’t been for a while, come on down to check it out. On with the Parade The day will kick off at 10:30 am with the traditional Children’s Earth Parade (All Species Welcome), which winds snake-like from the staging area by the San Diego Museum of Natural History to the Children’s Activity Area in the big parking lot in front of the San Diego Aerospace Museum. Kids from all over our county will be marching, dressed as endangered species or carrying banners expressing their environmental concerns. If your group would like to participate in this free event, please visit the EarthWorks website at www.EarthParade.org, or call (858) 272-7370. The Cleaner Car Caravan follows the Children’s Parade and is full of non-polluting vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars. After the parade, the cars from the Caravan will be on display at the Cleaner Car Concourse in the Pan American Plaza where you can check out the cars and meet their owners and builders. This year, we have two grand marshals of the parade, one from the human species and the other from the animal kingdom. 10News’s Marti Emerald will represent us two-leggeds, while Wilma, an 18-year-old, 100-pound Burmese Python will appear courtesy of Giggling Gorilla Productions and Atira Wildlife Conservation as this year’s representative of the non-human world. Atira will be hosting Wilma in the Kids Area after the parade. It’s all green There are record-breaking numbers in every other area of the fair this year: more green entrepreneurs, more artists with recycled art materials or earth-based themes, more green building experts, more businesses providing services for the home and for the office that strive to minimize their “carbon footprint.” Artist Mario Torero and his Artivist group, of Fuerza Mundo (fuerzamundo.org), will be setting up an installation in the eARTh Gallery between the Folk Stage and the Children’s Activity Area so visitors can watch painters paint and sculptors sculpt before getting their own hands green making greeting cards from recycled paper and generally having an earth-friendly blast! EarthFair is a great event for the whole family, grandma and grandpa included! And speaking of footprints, artist Paul Vauchet will construct a Peace Pole, and a special exhibit of famous footprints featuring models of the feet of such zero-carbon luminaries as Mahatma Ghandi. Try walking in his footsteps for a change of pace from our usual models of consumer consumption and wasted resources! To find out more about EarthFair, please visit the San Diego EarthWorks website: www.EarthDayWeb.org, or call (858) 272-7370. How EarthWorks works San Diego EarthWorks, hosts of the EarthFair, is a volunteer-based, non-profit organization dedicated to a clean, healthy future for all living things. While attendance at EarthFair is free, the exhibitor fees only pay part of its expenses. We depend on the generosity of our sponsors and members to make ends meet. If you’d like to help sustain EarthFair as a San Diego institution, become an EarthWorks member! You can join at any EarthWorks booth at EarthFair, or by calling (858) 272-7370. EarthFair also couldn’t happen without 400+ volunteers who produce the event. To find out about volunteering, and to sign-up oneline, please visit www.EarthDayWeb.org and click on “Volunteering.” |
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David S. Cohen is EarthWorks’ Development Director and Assistant EarthFair Production Manager. |
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