The New Southwest / Here come the critters!

Here come the critters!

Tucson Earth Day Festival promotes Southern Arizona’s unique environment

Tucson, Ariz. - The 16th Annual Tucson Earth Day Festival and Parade continues to be the most popular Earth Day event in Tucson. The festival features a variety of environmental activities, displays, music, and food. In 2009 there were 5,000 attendees and close to 70 exhibitors teaching about the environment and providing information on many environmental programs and products. Nearly 300 participants including children, families, schools and environmental organizations walked in the colorful costume parade, promoting various environmental themes.

Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day each year on the March equinox, while a global observance in many countries is held each year on April 22. International Earth Day was initiated to make earth inhabitants aware of their responsibility to care for the planet. This care includes environmental and natural resources. The first Earth Day was celebrated in America in 1970, and today thousands of cities and nearly every country celebrates Earth Day.

John McConnell first introduced the idea of a global holiday called “Earth Day” at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment in 1969. The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto on March 21, 1970. UN Secretary-General U Thant supported McConnell’s global initiative to celebrate this annual event, and on February 26, 1971, he signed a proclamation to that effect, saying: “May there only be peaceful and cheerful Earth Days to come for our beautiful Spaceship Earth as it continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life.”

This year, the unique parade in Tucson on April 16 honors that concept, and once again will include participants of all ages dressed up as plants, animals, and insects, alongside environmentally themed floats. Batucaxe, a high energy drum and dance group, will lead the “All Species Procession” as part of the Earth Day Parade.  It’s fun being part of the parade. Just make a costume or float from recycled materials to let everyone know what we should do to help protect your species’ Place on Earth. Great prizes for the winners in each parade category include Tucson Children’s Museum passes, memberships and tours.

Parade floats must be human powered (e.g. bike, wheelchair or wagon) or alternatively powered (solar, electric, natural gas, propane) and festively decorated with any recycled material. You can dance, sing and play instru­ments! Let your imagination run wild!

A Solar Competition will be held, with awards given after the parade. Model Solar Electric Cars and Houses (www.swe.org/regionB/b007/solar.html) offers kits containing solar cells, motors, batteries, lights and other optional parts. Designed and constructed by middle school students, the kits contain real world engineering projects – and the design and construction are left to the ingenuity of the individual student.

Show off your clean air vehicles that run on alternate fuels, such as biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric, ethanol, propane, and waste vegetable oil. Show and tell others how they can start using a cleaner fuel in their vehicle to keep the air clean for all species.

The 16th Annual Tucson Earth Day Festival and Parade will take place on Saturday, April 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Reid Park, west of the DeMeester Outdoor Performance Stage, off of S. Country Club Road.  This year the theme is “All Species Deserve a Place on Earth.”

Consider having a booth to share your information and make learning about the environment fun for kids.  Exhibits should include hands-on activities about the environment designed to inform and inspire children of all ages.

Sponsors for the 2010 event include Tucson Electric Power, Central Arizona Project, Apache Nitrogen Products, Recyco Inc., Creative Costumes and Formal Wear, Pima County Natural Resources Parks & Recreation, SAEMS (Southern Arizona Environmental Management Society, Chick-Fil-A, Alcoa, Cox Communications, Quick Print, The Solar Store, HabiStore, Bear Essential News, City of Tucson, Pima County Public Works, and Turner Labs. Media sponsors include BOB 97.5 FM, Fox 11 KMSB, KTUC-1400AM Citadel Broadcasting, KXEW Radio Tejano 1600 AM Clear Channel, MIA 97.1 FM, MY TV 18 KTTU, and Tucson Green Times.

Parade and exhibitor entry forms, maps and guidelines can be found on the Tucson Earth Day Festival Web site at www.tucsonearthday.org or call (520) 206-8814.

April 2 is the deadline to register for exhibit space or to be in the parade.