BY: RACHEL SMITH

Talk about a test in patience.  When all we want to do is enjoy our weekend celebrating Mother Earth by cleaning up around our beautiful town, instead we are piled with another walloping of snow, putting the kibosh on many of the planned activities.

So what is Earth Day?

Well, in a nutshell, it’s a celebration to help end pollution.  Mostly, the effects of plastic.  Plastic is threatening our planet’s survival, from poisoning & hurting marine life to disrupting human hormones, from littering our beaches & landscapes to clogging our streams and landfills.

But together – if we band together to clean it up and change our selfless ways – there’s hope for planet Earth!

Earth Day began in 1970.  Inspired by the student anti-war movement sweeping the Nation, founder Gaylord Nelson thought he could just harness the passion and energy of these young people into something more positive and productive.  After a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, Nelson knew something had to change.

That first year, over 20 million Americans took to the streets.

By 1990, the focus shifted to recycling.  The relentless efforts over the years had cleaned up many areas of the World, but now how do they slow down or stop the onslaught of trash?  We are a Country of “junk it and get a new one” and, unfortunately, all that junk needs to go somewhere.  Recycling became a way to reduce the amount of trash by reusing as many goods as possible.

As the millennium approached, the focus shifted once again thanks to technological advances.  With the internet to organize activists, the fight for clean, sustainable energy took to Washington D.C. for a rally.

Earth Day has reached its current status as the largest secular observance in the world and is celebrated by more than a BILLION people each year.

This year, as it seems we’ve been blasted with another round of ice and snow, many of the Clear Lake activities were forced to be cancelled.  I mean, bounce houses are fun for kids… but not so much when you set it up on top of a giant pile of snow.

Or maybe that would make it MORE fun??

Regardless, a slew of activities are able to still go on despite Mother Nature’s temper tantrum.  Below is a flyer of all the activities and starting times.

For more information, please visit www.clearlakeearthday.org