Dalton Green Seeks Earth Week Sponsors, Participants
DALTON, Mass. — Here comes the sun, and the Green Committee is finding ways to shine a light on environmental action with an Earth Week Celebration in April. Members are inviting sponsors and participants to join in supporting the event.
During the Select Board meeting on Monday, Kathy Perney, the Green Committee's public outreach and education chair, presented the weeklong festival that will culminate in an Environmental Spectacular Fair.
"Planet Earth deserves more than a day, we are giving it a full week. It's still under what it deserves," she said.
The celebration, scheduled for the week of April 19–25, will feature a variety of environmental themed activities and contests, some of which will feature prizes.
The Environmental Spectacular Fair will have information tabling from numerous green organizations and people.
So far, they have been a member of the Green Air Coalition, Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management, Alpine Solar, and more but are still looking for more.
Those interested in tabling email the Earth Week organizers.
Activities during the week will include a scavenger hunt; a guided tour and clean-up of The Pines Trail, a self-guided town clean-up, an Earth Day-themed "Family Feud" game; and bird watching at the Boulders Preserve Trail.
Leading up to the event students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade are participating in a coloring and writing contest.
So far, the committee has one confirmed sponsor, Holiday Brook Farm, that has donated several things for the event, said Laurie Martinelli, Green Committee member.
Perney said she is a strong supporter of "buying local" and hopes to see local businesses contribute items, such as gift cards or other donations, to the effort. She noted that contributions like that would also help attract customers to their businesses.
"We're all one together. I mean, they can't separate themselves out. We're all the people of Dalton and surrounding areas," Perney said.
"We're one, not separate. So helping out to build community is to their best interest."
The committee aims to establish this as an annual event and hopes to expand its reach every year, with the goal of eventually raising funds to support green initiatives in town, she said.
The foundation of the event is centered on collaboration with local environmental agencies and town schools.
The town's Open Space And Recreation Committee is leading a guided tour and clean-up of the Pines Trail, the Pleasant Valley Audubon Society is having a guided bird watch at the Boulders Preserve Trail, and community members are encouraged to go out into their neighbors and clean-up.
Additionally, teachers at Craneville Elementary School, Nessacus Regional Middle School, and Saint Agnes Catholic Community have incorporated the writing and drawing contest into their curriculum, Perney said.
Assignments include creating a picture book, inventing a nature superhero, or designing an environmental comic strip. At the end of Earth Week, on April 25 at 10:30 a.m., there will be an award ceremony for the project at the Dalton Library.
Event planning is a collaborative effort with Wahconah Regional High School's Green Umbrella Club, Perney said.
The club has designed flyers, will serve food at the Family Feud event, may participate in the scavenger hunt, and will help judge the scavenger hunt, Family Feud, and the drawing and writing contest, she said.
"They live with the world that we older people have given them, and they're getting the raw end of the deal," Perney said.
"They are interested in making a better world for themselves. The club is big. It's powerful and very vociferous about what they want."
The event supports the Green Committee's climate action plan, which seeks to help the town achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The plan focuses on strategies to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in homes, businesses, municipal facilities, and vehicles.
The town approved its climate action plan last year, and the first three years of the effort is focused on public education, Perney said.
"What we're doing is we're going to take education, fun and community to combine them all, to help learn about our climate action plan and why we need to appreciate the environment." she said.
Tags: Earth Day,
