Earth Month 2010!
I know it’s been a while since the blog was updated, but that’s a sign of how incredibly busy we have been here at Nature Consortium! April 22nd marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and our volunteers celebrated this fact all month. During the month of April we had 983 volunteers out to the greenbelt and they put in 3,591 hours of service! Many of these volunteers came to us from the following groups: UCDS, Seattle Works, International Fulbright scholars, The Service Board, Out for Sustainability/Earth Gay, Environmental Protection Agency, City Year/Young Heroes, SPU Latreia, University of Portland alumni, John Hay Elementary, Old Navy, Bank of America, West Seattle High National Honor Society, Pacific Marketing International, Tzu Ching group, Green River Community College, and South Seattle Community College.
The main event in April was the Earth Day work party that we co-hosted with EarthCorps as part of Duwamish Alive! Over 400 volunteers showed up to Pigeon Point Park and removed 42,440 sq.ft. of Himalayan blackberry and 22,285 sq.ft. of English ivy! Additionally, they did 32,965 sq.ft. of weeding and 4,970 sq.ft. of mulching.
After braving what I regard as typical Earth Day weather (from drizzle to sun to a proper downpour and back again), volunteers joined us at Pathfinder K-8 for our annual Earth Day Festival. Choruses from Coe Elementary and Lawton Elementary serenaded hundreds of hungry participants while they waited patiently for hot dogs and veggie dogs. Festival attendees sat in the grass and ate, and then made their way into the school to listen to the lovely sounds of Klezterbalm and Correo Aereo. Several Duwamish Alive! partners were also at the festival informing volunteers about all the great work they do in Seattle, and Bert the Salmon made an appearance as well.
To show that there is, in fact, no rest for the weary, we hosted a 177 person work party the weekend after our Earth Day event with City Year/Young Heroes and Seattle Parks and Recreation for Global Youth Service Day. In addition to doing a bunch of initial removal of blackberry and vinca, these hard-working volunteers also did 2,200 sq.ft. of mulching and 55,600 sq.ft. of maintenance!
Thanks to everyone who turned out for Earth Month, the greenbelt looks great! For those of you who couldn’t make it to a work party in April, remember that every day is Earth Day and join us in the forest!
