Earth Day

Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks invites residents to celebrate Earth Day by helping to plant trees and install tree shelters from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at West Friendship Park, 12947 Route 144. Information and to sign up: 410-313-4624. Wear work gloves and bring a shovel.

I was happy to see that National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli wrote about the important activities that we, as individuals and as a society, can do to protect the environment, without once mentioning the impossible goal of "stopping climate change" ("Take back the planet," April 22). Sadly, Earth Day Network, the organization behind Earth Day, is not so practical. Their website for 2013 Earth Day focused so intensely on climate change that one would think they were promoting "Climate Day. " This is a big problem for Earth Day's future.

Earth Day has become more than a day where Americans clean parks and plant trees or flowers. The American Council on Exercise is using it as a day to promote outdoor activity. They are using it as a day to encourage people to trade the treadmill for a walk in the park or the weight bench for an outdoor yoga class. Here are five workouts they are suggesting for Earth Day, which is Sunday. 1.  Go Off-Road : A great way to escape the hectic city life and reduce stress is to hike in nature . Bring along some water and a snack for shorter hikes.

Stars are shooting, drinking, driving and chomping, and the government is watching. Welcome to your post-weekend trends report for April 22, 2013.  You have to love Congress. America's favorite band of geriatric jokers decided it would be hi-LAR-ious to use a week full of manhunts and explosions as a backdrop for jamming through the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which many civil libertarians view as the most Orwellian surveillance-state bill since the Patriot Act. The bill, which moves from the House to the Senate this week, is co-sponsored by Maryland's own Dutch Ruppersberger.

Friday marks the 41 s t anniversary of Earth Day and provides the customary opportunity to take stock of the environmental movement in this country. Unfortunately, for all the talk of the greening of America, it's been a pretty rotten 12 months for the planet and its defenders. Just look at the bookend events: A year ago this week, the Gulf of Mexico suffered the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Whatever the lessons learned from that trauma, it hasn't resulted in big changes to the country's oil-dependent energy strategies.

Today is Earth Day , a day when environmentalists and concerned citizens around the world demonstrate their caring for the health of their communities, the natural world and the planet. Forty-three years ago, the first Earth Day drew an estimated 20 million Americans into the streets, into parks and onto campuses for teach-ins and protests over environmental degradation.  Organizers today claim the observance has gone global, with more than 1 billion participants. Earth Day helped launch the modern environmental movement, which provided public pressure for passage of many of the environmental laws we have today.  Like the movement, its focus has shifted from fighting obvious air and water pollution to knottier issues around how and where we live, and what we consume, most notably climate change.

Mother Nature brought relief to a parched Baltimore on Sunday, but the persistent rain didn't dampen the spirits at the Earth Day festivities in Hampden. "We had a few hundred people come through today," said Don Barton, 29, an organizer of Sunday's Localize It! 2012, one of a series of events during the week to celebrate Earth Day in the Baltimore area. "People are braving the rain and seem to be having a good time. " Localize It!, sponsored by the Baltimore Free Farm, promotes local food, music and vendors.

Earth Day at the Clarksville home of Sydney Ostroff, 9, her brother Jonah, 7, and their parents, Len and Michelle, was quite an extravaganza under sparkling blue skies. The kids got time off from school Thursday and doughnuts to eat, while about 60 news reporters, photographers, construction workers, politicians, bureaucrats and neighbors, all overseen by a clattering TV helicopter, watched Gov. Martin O'Malley and Howard County Executive Ken Ulman help install photovoltaic solar panels on their roof.

The City of Aberdeen's annual Earth Day celebration drew a good crowd to Festival Park Saturday, as the weather cooperated with sunny skies and mild temperatures. There were plenty of games made from recycled materials for the youngsters to play and plenty of animals for them to see and touch, including turtles, a green iguana, a chinchilla and rabbits. Earth Day also featured a number of environmental exhibits and activities such as face-painting and tie-dyed shirt making.

Earth Day weekend is upon us.  I can tell because my email inbox is jammed with pitches for "green" products and corporate campaigns: Clothing made from recycled plastic bottles; natural skin care products; hybrid auto accessories, even pet waste collection bags. Marketing has its place, I suppose. But in keeping with the origins of Earth Day, there are plenty of opportunities to demonstrate concern about the state of our planet and community, without having to buy stuff. Here are some: Baltimore Green Works is holding a week's worth of activities from April 21 to April 28 in celebration of Earth Day. On Saturday, there'll be tree plantings and other activities in the morning, followed by EcoFest at Druid Hill Park from noon to 5 p.m. Gardening workshops, hikes and walks, bike rides, entertainment and a tree giveaway.

As part of Baltimore Green Week, the Nature Conservancy and the Oyster Recover Partnership are hosting an Earth Day "mix and mingle" event tonight at McCormick & Schmick's Staff from both organizations will introduce the new One for the Bay campaign, a new awareness and fundraising campaign that will support the organizations' ongoing efforts to help restore the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population. The One for the Bay reception is 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. tonight at McCormick & Schmick's , 711 Eastern Ave. For information about the reception go to the Nature Conservancy website . And find more Baltimore Green Week events here . And B&O Brasserie is hosting an Earth Day oyster happy hour tonight from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oysters will be available for $1 for guests, and all collected oyster shells will be donated to the Oyster Recovery Program.

Earth Day will be a big event at Linton Springs Elementary School. In fact, the school's Earth Day activities will actually span three days: April 22, 24 and 25. The theme will be monarch butterflies. Kindergartners at Linton Springs will make stained-glass butterflies and learn about the life cycle stages of butterflies. First- and second-graders will build a butterfly feeder, and they'll plant and mulch the garden beds. Third-graders will also make a butterfly feeder and weed invasive plants from stream site and surrounding areas on the school grounds.

For over 40 years, Earth Day has sent a powerful message: that each of us has both the capacity and the duty to support the environment that sustains us. This is certainly a message that dedicated conservationists can get behind, but what about everyday people with busy lives, kids to raise and jobs to keep? For many, Earth Day has become a day of celebration rather than an urgent call to join a movement. Earth Day Network, the organization behind Earth Day, cites the impressive statistic that 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world.

Today is Earth Day , a day when environmentalists and concerned citizens around the world demonstrate their caring for the health of their communities, the natural world and the planet. Forty-three years ago, the first Earth Day drew an estimated 20 million Americans into the streets, into parks and onto campuses for teach-ins and protests over environmental degradation.  Organizers today claim the observance has gone global, with more than 1 billion participants. Earth Day helped launch the modern environmental movement, which provided public pressure for passage of many of the environmental laws we have today.  Like the movement, its focus has shifted from fighting obvious air and water pollution to knottier issues around how and where we live, and what we consume, most notably climate change.

Four years ago, employees at the Howard County Office of Environmental Sustainability came up with an idea for people who want to do their part for Earth Day but don't know where to start. It's called the 20-Minute Cleanup - essentially a way to urge people, either on a whim or through precise planning, to pitch in to aid the environment. "Every year, just before Earth Day, the county government would get a lot of calls from people saying,'We want to do something for the environment, what's going on?

Editor: Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has led to enormous growth in understanding the consequences we face if we do not take care of our natural resources. It has led to more action to protect our planet's land, water, air, wildlife and human beings, and it has strengthened farmers' and ranchers' already strong commitment to being good environmental stewards. Farmers observe Earth Day every day. Where asphalt and pavement turn to gravel and dirt, you will find men and women rising early, greeting the day and working the earth.

The Broadneck Baptist Church will sponsor an Earth Day Celebration May 9 and 10. All events are free and the public is welcome.The celebration starts at 10 a.m. Saturday with a children's pre-cycling class for children 6 to 11, and a youth workshop for 12- to 18-year-olds.On Sunday at 10 a.m., there will be church services with an environmental theme.Information: 757-8583.

Remember Arbor Day? It's April 28, a national holiday for more than a century, the first official observance in the United States to recognize our obligation to protect the environment.Arbor Day tree-planting ceremonies signaled America's commitment to a sustainable society, even if limited to ensuring fresh crops of forests for future harvest. The manifold benefits of trees to a healthy environment, not just to human consumption, were recognized by few.But the idea of human trusteeship for the well-being of the earth was inherent in that nationwide holiday.

Editor: Greetings Everyone! This is your official invitation to attend the annual Harford County Earth Day celebration event to be held this Saturday, April 20 (rain date is Sunday, April 21) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Festival Park in Aberdeen. This is a family friendly celebration, with fun things to do for people of all ages and abilities. There will be games, vendors, information booths, prizes, earth friendly complimentary gifts and live music to jam to throughout the day. Speaking of live music, scheduled to perform are: • 11 to 11:50 a.m., Spice; • Noon to 1:20 p.m., No Pro Bono; • 1:30 to 2:20 p.m., Don Shappelle; • 2:30 to 4 p.m., No Pro Bono.

For almost 30 years now, Hieronimus & Co. in its various radio broadcasts, television, print, online, and other public forums has addressed the increasing weather extremes as a result of global warming. This discussion began in earnest in 1985 among scientists, and only now is it becoming self-evident with the October surprise of Hurricane Sandy, not to mention the severe droughts, floods, record temperatures worldwide, and other anomalous weather patterns and their deleterious impacts on animals, nature and humans.