Town of Shandaken to celebrate Earth Day on April 21
rremsnyder@freemanonline.com
Town of Shandaken residents can celebrate Earth Day a day early this year as the town’s Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) will kick off its first townwide celebration on Sunday, April 21.
Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 nationwide this year.
The CAC is teaming up with local businesses to create a day of fun, films, music, climate trivia games with prizes and talks with climate experts. The theme of the day is “Climate Leverage Points,” which will explore ways local residents can make the most impact to help protect the environment.
Earth Day activities will take place at two venues in Shandaken.
Festivities will begin at 11 a.m. at the Phoenicia Farmer’s Market in the Pine Hill Community Center, 287 Main St., Pine Hill. The event at the farmer’s market will run until 2 p.m.
Among the highlights of the three-hour session include a talk by Ashokan Rivers hydrologist Tim Koch from 11:30 a.m. to noon, Bard climate scientist Anton Seimon answering questions between 12:30 to 1 p.m. and Windfall Farms farmer Kathy Pitts appearing from 1 to 1:30 p.m.
There will also be a session from noon to 12:30 p.m. for climate trivia and prizes.
This will be followed by a series of short films from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Phoenicia Playhouse at 10 Church St., Phoenicia. The films depict frontline communities dealing with the climate crisis.
Four short films will be shown courtesy of The Years Project.
The films are: “Solutions Are Around Us,” “The Energy of Hawaii — A Little Legacy,” “Carbon Farming; Harnessing the Power of Soil,” and “How Gen Z is Making Business Sustainable.”
Climate scientists and filmmakers will lead a question-and-answer session and there will be more climate trivia games at the Phoenicia Playhouse.
CAC member Beth Waterman said it became obvious to the nine-member committee that there was a need for an Earth Day in the town.
“Our committee started in 2022, so we’re relatively recent,” she said. “We decided an Earth Day was one of the things we wanted to do this year. I think it raises the visibility of our group and it contributes to the town’s visibility. The town has a serious commitment to the CAC and working in the field of climate change. It helps us with our message.”
Maya Lilly, a CAC member and a film, television and digital media producer for climate stories produced by The Years Project, believes in the importance of Earth Day.
“I’ve always loved Earth Day because I feel like we need reminders of how fragile and important and sweet this little earth is,” she said. “The reason Earth
Day was created in 1970 was because it was the first time there was a
photograph of Earth from space. So when people saw the earth, that was a profound moment for people.”
“I think it’s going to be a great day if everybody shows up to support Earth Day,” said Bruce Barry, a retired television director and CAC member. “The reason we’re doing this is to do what we can to make the Town of Shandaken carbon neutral by 2035.
We’re working on many different items such as people purchasing EVs (electric vehicles). We’re going to have an EV Day on May 18 where the Town of Shandaken and the Town of Olive will be sharing the stage.”
The weekend of Earth Day activities in Shandaken begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 20, with a children’s story hour reading of “Dear Earth” at the Phoenicia Library, 48 Main St., Phoenicia.
All CAC events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit http://www.shandaken.us/climate-smart/ earth-day-2024.