Climate change. It can be overwhelming. But Summerland’s Earth Week Committee, representing a wide-variety of groups, organizations and individuals, is up to the challenge and they hope you are too.
The sixth annual Earth Week celebration is about community — friends and family getting together to learn more about what we can do to change climate change. The array of events and activities are fun, educational, hands-on and thought provoking.
The week starts with the Trout Creek Community Clean-up on Sunday, April 19 from 10 a.m. to noon.
The meet-up location is the Trout Creek Hot-Spot pullout. Other neighbourhoods have joined the challenge. Residents from the Lakeshore and Peach Orchard neighbourhoods will be cleaning up their communities too. For more information contact Helen Poncelot at: 250-494-9454
On Monday, April 20, you can learn how to grow more food with less space, less seed and less effort. Join Toni Boot’s Square Foot Gardening Workshop (10 a.m. to noon) Call 250-494-4617 to register.
Wednesday April 22 is National Earth Day. Summerland will be celebrating with two main events. Earth Day by the Water at Peach Orchard Park (from 1 to 4 p.m.) includes displays by the Trout Hatchery and Agur Lake Society that highlight the importance of our local waters. Join historian David Gregory and a local biologist on a tour of Summerland’s waterfront and riparian ecosystem. Call 250-494-0728 to register for the walk.
Also on Wednesday, the Summerland Philosophers’ Café is sponsoring a discussion on, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science: A Dialogue. Listen to local ecologist Don Gayton and Sepwepemc knowledge keeper and teacher Henry Michel discuss the two distinct knowledge systems and how they relate to our management of Okanagan lands and waters. Then join the conversation April 22 at the IOOF Hall, Main Street. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
On Friday, April 24, attend a free screening of the award winning film, Elemental. Starting at 6:30 p.m. at Centre Stage Theatre, this film tells the story of three individuals united by their deep connection with nature and driven to confront some of the most pressing ecological challenges of our time.
The weekend’s events focus on family-fun activities. On Saturday, April 25, from 1 to 4 p.m., the Summerland Arts Centre’s Imagination Station invites children to use their creativity to make cork rafts or pinwheels from recycled materials.
At 1 and 2 p.m., the Summerland Library’s Blue, Green and Clean program will include stories, songs and activities centred on protecting our Earth. For more information call 250-494-5591.
Also on Saturday, everyone is invited to head on over to True Grain Bread between 1 and 4 p.m. to learn about the heritage red fife wheat and its importance to sustainable wheat farming in Canada. All children participating in this event get a free cookie and bag of wheat seeds to plant!
Earth Week culminates with the ninth annual Earth Day Celebration at Dale Meadows Sports Complex. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., families and friends are encouraged to take part in enhancing the natural habitats that border the sports field and connect to Prairie Creek.
There will be information booths on endangered species and habitats, invasive plants, interactive activities for children and much more. For more information email: ecomatters@shaw.ca
For more information on all of the free Summerland Earth Week Events visit: www.facebook.com/SummerlandEarthweek.