April 8, 2008 — Earth Day, usually celebrated April 22, begins early this year with a presentation of Al Gore's slide show on climate change drawn from his Academy Award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."
Kent Taylor, who was trained by Gore and his Climate Project and who has made several presentations on St. John, will make the presentation, which begins at 7 p.m. Friday at the St. John School of the Arts. The Friends of V.I. National Park on St. John are sponsoring the event.
Activities continue from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday with the Friends' annual Earth Day Environmental Fair. It will be held at the ballfield adjacent to the National Park Visitors' Center.
"It's a very fun environment," said Kristen Maize, the Friends program manager.
The fair is free and open to the public.
The event includes hands-on eco-activities, environmental and recycling demonstrations, and science and "earth art" exhibits. Participants can learn about alternative energies and landscaping with native plants, participate in simulated archeology digs, as well as view other demonstrations.
There will be new exhibitors this year, including educational outreach coordinators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Coastal Zone Management program and the V.I. Energy Office, Maize said.
There will be live music and snacks and goodies for kids. All St. John schools have been invited to attend.
The Friends are able to have the educational outreach coordinators participate because the island's Earth Day is earlier than celebrations on other islands, Maize said. In other years they had conflicting commitments.
The date change was made because Gifft Hill School on St. John was on spring break the week of April 22.
"And it was a day that worked for all schools on St. John," she said. The list of schools expected to attend includes public and private schools.
On April 19 and 20, participants in the Friends' Adopt-A-Beach/Trail program will remove debris from their adopted beach/trail as part of an island-wide cleanup.
The Adopt-A-Beach/Trail program encourages volunteer groups to adopt a site and become responsible for keeping it clean. If you are interested in participating in Earth Day, adopting a beach/trail or joining the Friends for a beach cleanup of Drunk Bay April 19, contact the Friends at 779-4940.
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