Over the past week, Summerland celebrated Earth Week with plenty of special events and activities to raise awareness of environmental issues.
A film presentation, children’s crafts, garbage clean-ups, educational presentations and habitat restoration work were among the many activities held during the week.
The scope of environmentally-themed activities in Summerland is impressive and as a result, the community now celebrates Earth Week.
Earth Day alone would be too short to accommodate all the events and activities in Summerland.
The many Earth Week initiatives are important, since they can encourage changes to environmentally responsible behaviour.
However, concern about the environment should be ongoing, not something relegated to one day or one week out of the year. Environmental issues should be an ongoing priority.
Last week, the province provided funding to the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the Okanagan and Similkameen Invasive Species Society for their ongoing efforts to control the spread of invasive plants.
The funding is part of more than $1.7 million distributed provincewide for invasive plant control.
This work is not always glamourous and at times it can be frustrating, but it is important.
Once invasive species have taken hold, efforts to remove or control them can be extremely costly, difficult and time-consuming.
Even if the damage from invasive plants can be undone, complete habitat restoration can take many years.
The efforts made to control invasive species now can help to reduce a potential catastrophe in the future.