With Ecology North’s 19th annual Earth Week set to kick off next week, organizers of the multi-day event say visitors can expect a wide array of green-themed activities – from talks on climate change to a city-wide scavenger hunt.
“Because Earth Day is on Sunday April 22, we like to celebrate it all week long … and get different people to think about the environment and to also just get together as a community in the springtime,” said Laura Busch, communications officer at Ecology North.
The non-profit’s week-long nod to Earth Day – and Earth itself – will get underway Monday April 16 with a fish fry on Franklin Avenue . That's a staple of the seven-day celebration that underscores one of this year’s themes, said Busch.
“It promotes food sustainability and eating local food, because it’s all Great Slave fish,” she said.
Renewable energy – another topic Ecology North hopes to bring attention to next week – will be highlighted Tuesday April 17 when scavenger hunters set out on a three-day quest to spot solar panels, wind turbines and biomass systems in the city.
Ecology North's Laura Busch says the wide array of events planned for this year's Earth Week – including a silent auction, coffee house and scavenger hunt – are made possible by the efforts of “dedicated” members and volunteers.
Saturday April 21 will feature a coffee house and silent auction, one of the week’s main events and most well-attended in past years. Busch said she hopes the event, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., will draw the all of Ecology North’s supporters.
Donated items up for auction range from plane tickets and garden starting kits to art pieces and plants.
Contributions from Ecology North’s 75 member volunteer pool, she said, range from copying editing funding proposals to helping put on events, like those planned for Earth Week 2018.
Brad Heath, a longtime member, stopped by the non-profit’s downtown office Wednesday to donate DVDs for the upcoming auction.
“(I) don’t want to just throw them out, so we thought this would be a good option to give them to the auction. Keeping in the spirit of Ecology North, we recycle these products and other people can get some use out of them,” said Heath.
Having worked with Ecology North during the early days of the Earth Day celebration, Heath said events like Earth Week help keep environmental issues at the forefront of public consciousness.